Ice is illegally detaining immigrants in a Portland field office, mayor says

Portland authorities are in a standoff with Donald Trump’s administration over an Ice detention facility in the Oregon city, after an investigation found the administration is using the facility for overnight detentions, in violation of its city-issued permits.

The standoff comes amid threats from Donald Trump to dispatch troops to the city, and residents protesting nightly outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) field office in question.

The city office that oversees land use and zoning notified the owner of the building that Ice leases on 18 September that the federal agency had violated a conditional use permit approved in 2011. The permit limits the number of detainees Ice can hold at the facility each day to fewer than 15, and the duration for which they can be held, to less than 12 hours. The permit also bars the agency from “housing” anyone overnight.

But Ice data the city obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request, included in the official notice, shows 25 instances since January in which Ice held a person for more than 12 hours. On 26 January alone, agents held 16 people – listed as citizens of Venezuela, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico and other countries – for over 27 hours before transferring them, according to public records obtained by Street Roots and the Guardian.

The city’s notice also said the building was illegally altered when exterior windows were boarded up without proper approval. An Ice spokesperson did not respond to a question asking when the wood was installed, but photos and video taken at protests and posted on social media show the boarded up windows first appeared around 16 June.

The field office in southwest Portland sits two blocks from the Willamette river, across the street from an affordable housing complex and next door to a K-8 school that moved in August, citing the dangers of federal agents’ response to protests with teargas and pepper balls as the reason for the move.

A small group of Portland residents have protested outside the Ice facility for more than 100 consecutive days, and an online petition calling on the city to revoke a permit has garnered nearly 18,000 signatures since February.

According to Portland’s mayor, Keith Wilson, the city opened a preliminary investigation in July after it received multiple formal complaints about potential violations at the facility. The city sent official notice after substantiating those complaints.

Wilson said in a video statement last week that Ice has the opportunity to remedy the infractions before penalties are imposed, but placed the responsibility squarely at the feet of the federal government.

“We must remember this review was triggered by the federal government breaking promises to our community regarding the detention of human beings,” Wilson said.

The building’s landlord has 30 days to correct the violations, but if it fails to comply, the city will assess a monthly fee. Ice is allowed to continue operations as the process continues.

While the city cannot simply revoke any permit outright, the notice of violation is the first step in a process that could provide some level of accountability for the federal government’s operations in Portland.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson, Tricia McLaughlin, said the mayor’s claim was based solely on records obtained by the city without an effort to verify facts with Ice, and claimed without evidence that the mayor is preventing Ice agents from removing criminals.

“Another day, another sanctuary politician attempting to prevent the brave men and women of ICE from removing the worst of the worst, including rapists, murderers, pedophiles, and gang members from the U.S.,” McLaughlin said in an email. “Mayor Wilson’s claims of substandard conditions at ICE facilities are categorically FALSE. All detainees receive proper meals, medical care, and access to family and legal counsel.”

DHS declined to offer evidence to substantiate McLaughlin’s claims.

Federal immigration data made available by Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (Trac) shows that, as of 7 September, over 70% of Ice detainees have no criminal conviction, and many who do were convicted of minor offenses, including traffic violations.

The Portland mayor’s office declined to respond to McLaughlin’s comments.

In August 2011, a hearings officer initially denied the local conditional use credential needed for Ice to operate its facility. But the city council adjudicated the matter on appeal, and unanimously approved it despite concerns raised in public testimony during the initial hearing. Local residents worried about the possibility that immigration-related protests could occur in the neighborhood, and that the safety plan – including how many and for how long people can be detained – might not be enforceable.

The local land use investigation is not the first time Portland has clashed with the second Trump administration, and at times Wilson has uneasily acceded to Trump’s demands.

In July, Wilson issued an executive order directing city employees to align with Trump’s executive order revoking federal diversity, equity and inclusion policies, preserving $380m in federal funding that could have been at risk if city policy did not align with Trump’s new reading of federal anti-discrimination laws.

Portland was among dozens of sanctuary jurisdictions – including the state of Oregon – that received letters from the US justice department in August, threatening federal action if it did not alter its sanctuary policies.

Earlier this month, Trump told reporters he was considering sending the national guard to Portland, citing a TV news report which mixed images from the city’s mass protests in 2020 with images from the current small protests at the local Ice facility.

“Like other mayors across the country, I have not asked for – and do not need – federal intervention,” Wilson said in response to Trump’s threat. “Portland will continue to rise to the moment as a proud sanctuary city, taking legal action to stand up for our community and our rights.”

Last week, Trump doubled down on his threat to send troops to Portland.

This article is co-published with Street Roots, an investigative weekly street newspaper