admitted in federal court

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has no current plans to build new detention facilities or expand existing ICE locations in the state of Oregon, a top ICE official said, tempering months of speculation that a new facility could be coming to the Oregon Coast.

The assurance came in a letter last week from Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons to U.S. Rep. Andrea Salinas. Salinas, a Democrat who represents the Willamette Valley, had opposed any plans to bolster or create new facilities in the Beaver State in a Feb. 12 letter to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security signed by the state’s Democratic congressional delegation alongside 10 Democratic congressmembers. 

Lyons didn’t explicitly rule out the possibility for a detention facility in the future, but wrote that “ICE is not currently planning to expand current detention facilities or open any new long or short-term detention facilities in Oregon.” 

In a statement responding to Lyons’ comments, Salinas said that Oregonians “never wanted an ICE detention facility in our state, especially as ICE and DHS have repeatedly abused their power and terrorized our communities.”

“I am glad that the administration confirmed they currently have no plans to build or expand any ICE detention facility in Oregon,” she said. “I have consistently demanded full transparency and accountability from ICE and the Trump administration for their misconduct, and I will keep using every avenue available to call out ICE’s overreach and keep our communities safe.”

Oregon is one of the few states without a long-term immigration detention facility, a reflection of its decades-long status as America’s first sanctuary state. State law prohibits state or local law enforcement resources from being used to help enforce federal immigration law without a judicial warrant, and a 2021 law banned private immigration detention centers.

The potential for a new ICE detention facility arose last fall amid concerns that federal immigration authorities were scouting the Oregon Coast for a long-term detention facility using the city’s U.S. Coast Guard municipal airport site. 

Newport’s city leaders went public with their concerns on Nov. 10, and clues from job listings for detention officers to an inquiry from a federal defense contractor seeking to lease land by the Coast Guard facility fueled suspicion. The potential facility generated strong opposition from residents and the state’s Democratic leadership, who also took issue with the temporary removal of a life-saving rescue helicopter from the Coast Guard facility.

The state of Oregon asked a federal judge in December to halt any potential construction of an immigration detention facility in Newport. The lawsuit generated a statement from an ICE official in January confirming that the agency was interested in a temporary holding and processing center in the city, but that it had no plans for construction or opening until at least May 2026. Since then, news outlets have reported on a federal contractors’ interest in a potential detention facility in Coos County and a bid for a rental ICE office space that could be in cities such as Roseburg or Portland. 

Democratic officials expressed skepticism of Lyons’ latest assurance.

U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley said in a statement that “again and again, ICE has been caught lying to the American people, so we should be skeptical of anything they tell us.”

“Trump is hellbent on deploying his secret police across Oregon, and we won’t stand for it,” Merkley said. “I say HELL NO to any plans to expand ICE facilities or operations in Oregon, whether it’s office space, detention centers, or anything else the Trump Administration cooks up.”

In a statement, U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden said he was gratified with the new development but would be “watchdogging it in all the days ahead to make sure it stays a fact throughout Oregon.”

“As with all things immigration and so many other debacles created by the Trump administration, the watchwords here are: stay on them!” he said. “Every word he and any of his subordinates utter must be checked and double checked for truth and accuracy.”