By Rick Berman
HILLSBORO, Oregon, December 20, 2025 — For two months Oregon coastal residents, led in part by fishermen and their wives, have been fighting an attempt by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to build an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility at an airport in the town of Newport. So far, the fight has had some successes, but it is far from over.
By early November, Newport residents were seeing clear signs that DHS was taking surreptitious steps to turn the city’s airport into an ICE detention facility. Online ads appeared for “detention officers based in Newport”; federal contractors made inquiries to area hotels and motels about long-term rentals of 200 rooms and contacted local businesses to explore the availability of water and sewer services.
Newport is in rural Lincoln County about 130 miles southwest of Portland, the state’s largest city. County and city officials who contacted DHS to inquire about the department’s intentions were stonewalled.
But the sign that caused the most shockwaves in the community came in late October. That was when the federal government moved the Coast Guard rescue helicopter from the Newport Municipal Airport to North Bend, Oregon, about 90 miles down the coast. The administration of U.S. president Donald Trump did this without a public announcement or informing the local government.
In response to community demands, a U.S. Coast Guard sea rescue helicopter has been stationed in Newport since a 1985 marine disaster that killed three people; they died because rescue aircraft were too far away. Local residents have successfully fought previous federal government attempts to remove the helicopter, the most recent by the Obama administration in 2014.
November protests against ICE
On November 10, Newport’s mayor and city manager issued press statements informing the public that, although they had received no confirmation from the federal government, they believed DHS was planning to convert Newport’s airport to an ICE detention facility. The city council announced a public meeting for November 12 to discuss the issue and receive public input. More than 800 people jammed Newport’s city hall, a very large turnout for a city of approximately 10,000 residents. Almost all — most crowded into overflow rooms and hallways — came to protest ICE.
Abril Aldama, a 14-year-old student at Newport High School who attended the meeting with her mother, was one of many who spoke out against ICE. Two months earlier her father, who is an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, was arrested by ICE and is now in a detention center in Tacoma, Washington. She told her family’s story and was warmly received by the crowd.
“I’m here on behalf of everyone who’s suffering and doesn’t want to speak up,” Aldama said. “I’m asking you guys please don’t do this [allow an ICE detention center in Newport — W–O]. No one deserves this.”
Not a single person at the meeting spoke in support of ICE.
Four days later, U.S. senator Ron Wyden held a town hall meeting in Newport, attended by about 600 people. Among the many testifying against allowing an ICE facility in Newport was Taunette Dixon, a leader of Newport Fishermen’s Wives. This is an organization that describes itself as a “non-profit corporation of fishermen’s wives, mothers, daughters, and friends, supporting a strong sense of community helping to further the causes of industry, safety, seafood education, and family support.”
Subsequently, there have been weekly protest rallies in front of Newport City Hall, primarily sponsored by the Indivisible chapter in Newport and Indivisible chapters in other Oregon coast cities. The Lincoln Chronicle reported that 600 people took part in the most recent protest on December 14.
As vigorous protests continue in Newport and local officials largely remain opposed to hosting an ICE facility, DHS has begun to look for a different coastal site. Federal contractors approached several businesses in Waldport, a town of about 2,000 just 15 miles south of the Newport airport.
On December 10, about 120 people packed a City Council meeting in Waldport to show their opposition to any type of ICE facility in the city. The city received over 700 emails, mostly opposing cooperation with ICE. At that meeting, the council unanimously passed a resolution that says in part: “The current direction and operation of the Immigrations [sic] and Customs Enforcement Agency has created legitimate fear among many peoples and represents a disregard of American values. The City hereby opposes and objects to any Immigration and Customs facilities or housing within the city.”
Moving rescue helicopter puts hundreds at greater risk
Newport Fishermen’s Wives and Lincoln County, later joined by the state of Oregon, have filed a lawsuit to force the federal government to return the rescue helicopter. They argue that the move, which has increased rescue response times from 15-30 minutes to 60-90 minutes, poses a “grave risk” to the local commercial fishing fleet, especially during the dangerous Dungeness crab season.
“They have minutes before they have a lack of use of their limbs,” said Dixon, describing the risk fishermen face if they fall in the cold sea. “Within an hour, even if they have a flotation device, they don’t have a high survival rate. So, we are looking at them recovering our loved ones, not rescuing our loved ones.”
In response to the lawsuit, U.S. District Court Judge Ann Aiken issued a temporary restraining order on November 24 mandating that the Coast Guard return the aircraft to Newport. At a hearing on December 8, Aiken extended the order for another two weeks.
Fishing is a dangerous occupation. Workers in the industry have a fatality rate some 40 times higher than the average worker. The Pacific Northwest crab fleet has a higher fatality rate than crabbers more than 1,000 miles to the north in the Bering Sea.
On December 14, just as the commercial Dungeness crab season began, the Coast Guard rescued two fisherman three miles off the Newport coast who were in the water after their boat sunk. It was a stark reminder of the importance of keeping the rescue helicopter in town.
Newport’s economy is dominated by tourism and fishing. Its busy port is home to the largest fishing fleet on the Oregon coast as well as several fish processing operations. But the sea entrance to the Port of Newport is often a treacherous passage with frequent king tides, sneaker waves, swells, tidal currents, and shifting sand.
As someone who formerly lived in Newport, I can testify that most long-term residents have known someone who was killed or seriously injured in the fishing industry or have participated in a vigil waiting for word about someone whose fishing boat, hundreds of miles from port, has lost radio contact. Fisherman safety is a critical issue for the whole community.
The port is also the site of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Marine Operations Center — Pacific (MOC-P). MOC-P is homeport for two NOAA ships and provides logistical, engineering, electronics, maintenance, and administrative support to all the ships in NOAA’s Pacific fleet.
Removing the rescue helicopter has put hundreds at greater risk.
Deportation campaign threatens all workers
It is likely that the Trump administration will continue to pursue building an ICE facility on the Central Oregon Coast. 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 resources from being used to help enforce federal immigration law. From the administration’s point of view, the Newport airport site is a favorable location, relatively close to areas where ICE has centered its terror campaign in Oregon and capable of handling deportation flights.
The fight is far from over.
The Newport experience — where it’s plain to see that building an ICE facility jeopardizes the health and safety of all local workers in the fishing industry — clearly reveals that the Trump administration’s police state tactics carried out by ICE are not just a threat to foreign-born workers. They also threaten the health and safety of all workers. The challenge for the labor movement is to champion the fight against deportations and explain how it is in the interest of the entire working class.
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Categories: Immigration / Refugees, US Politics