Portland Council Pushes Back on ICE With Eviction Threat and New Restrictions
PORTLAND, Ore. — A Portland City Councilwoman plans to tighten the noose around Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which faces possible eviction from its detention center facility for failing to comply with land use conditions.
ICE Violated City Council Detention Conditions
The ICE detention center in Southwest Portland leased the premises on condition that suspects were not detained overnight or for more than 12 hours.
The City Council recently discovered that this condition has been repeatedly violated since the beginning of the year, when the new Trump administration introduced new immigration laws.
Land use rights were also violated when ICE boarded up windows in the building, following street demonstrations by outraged protesters.
Proposals by Councilor Angelita Morillo
City Councilor Angelita Morillo has announced her intention to introduce additional prohibitive policies.
To discourage landlords from leasing premises to ICE, Morillo wants the council to introduce additional fees to cover costs incurred by the city after street protests, including cleaning up operations, particularly after the use of tear gas, and increasing the police presence in the area of the ICE facility.
The introduction of a privacy policy to shut the loophole that allows ICE to buy and sell data to track the lives of citizens.
A third policy will be introduced by District Two Councilor Sameer Kanal, together with some colleagues, to prevent ICE agents from concealing their identities. This has occurred on several occasions, creating outrage among citizens opposed to the new immigration laws.
Council Served Land Use Notice on ICE Yesterday
The notice served on the ICE detention center yesterday followed an investigation by the city’s permit bureau. Responding to formal complaints, it reviewed data from the Deportation Data Project, a nonprofit that obtained information about all ICE processing centers, leveraging the Freedom of Information Act..
This information revealed that ICE violated the land use right on 25 occasions between October 1, 2024, and July 27, 2025. ICE either held detainees beyond 12 hours or kept them overnight, violating the land use right agreement.