Fishermen, Wives Help Lead Protests Against Building ICE Detention Center on Oregon Coast

By Rick BermanDecember 22, 2025

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.