Recent speculation that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement might be planning a new base of operations on the Oregon Coast arose, in part, because of a vague inquiry by a government contractor last week.
The contractor, a Texas-based outfit called Team Housing Solutions, specializes in quickly standing up housing for troops and private-sector workers. In a Nov. 4 letter to the city of Newport, obtained via a public records request, the company signaled it might be needed soon at the Newport Municipal Airport.
While registering its interest in leasing a 4.3-acre-plot at the airport, Team Housing Solutions told city leaders it intended to “support federal operations commencing at the Newport Municipal Airport on or around December 1, 2025” and lasting at least six months.
The company hoped to use the land, it said, to store vehicles, stand up “temporary facilities” like office trailers or storage containers, and install generators. All of that infrastructure would be surrounded by a 12-foot security fence, Team Housing Solutions said in the letter.
The document contained few other details, and no mention of any government agency the company planned to assist beginning in December.
In the week since, local, state and federal officials have been trying to learn more about what the federal government is planning in Newport with little success. But there is growing concern that the small coastal city’s tiny airport has been tapped as the latest outpost in President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
On Monday, Newport officials released a statement that they had been “made aware of information that the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is in the process of evaluating locations along the Oregon coast for a potential U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE) immigration facility, and the Newport Municipal Airport has been identified as a possible location for this facility.”
The city declined to offer a source for that information. It did not mention the letter from Team Housing Solutions in the release. A spokesperson for the city said Tuesday it has taken no action on the lease inquiry.
“The city has not received any further information regarding this request, which would be required before we could accept or reject any lease request,” the spokesperson, John Fuller, said.
But the interest from a federal defense contractor wasn’t the only notable change at the airport. In late October, the U.S. Coast Guard relocated a rescue helicopter that has long stood at the ready in Newport, according to U.S. Rep. Val Hoyle.
Oregon elected officials have speculated the Trump administration may be planning to repurpose the Coast Guard air base. The plot of land that Team Housing Solutions inquired about is directly adjacent to that facility.
State and federal officials have voiced worry that ICE might open a detention center in Newport. That would mark the agency’s only such facility in the state. An ICE building in Portland that has been the subject of months of protest is used primarily for processing immigrant cases, not detaining people.
“Any unilateral decision made 3,000 miles away from Newport about using any part of this coastal community for an ICE detention facility would be both alarming and asinine,” U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat, said in a statement on Monday. “I will, of course, be teaming up with local and state officials to wrestle more information from the Trump administration about the prospects for such a scheme.”
An inquiry to Team Housing Solutions about its plans in Newport was not immediately answered on Tuesday. But a look at the company’s work history suggests federal interest in Newport might be centered on housing personnel.
Team Housing Solutions, founded in 1995, touts its ability to “set up housing at any property in the world.” Press clippings show it has won contracts to house federal workers for decades, but it has gotten increasing attention in recent years as it helped Texas Gov. Greg Abbott shelter National Guard troops near the U.S.-Mexico border to help with immigration enforcement.
Team Housing Solutions’ website touts three bases the company built for the Texas Military Department as examples of its abilities. It released a dramatic documentary-style video last year detailing its work to stand up one of those bases in the “epicenter of illegal migration.”
The Texas Observer reported in March the company has received contracts worth more than $800 million for its work for the Texas Military Department.
ICE has not responded to a request for comment about any plans to set up shop on the Oregon Coast. The Coast Guard did not respond to an inquiry about its intentions for its Newport air base.
In February, The New York Times reported that the Trump administration was planning to tap military outposts around the country – including Oregon – to bolster its mass deportation efforts. Gov. Tina Kotek and the Oregon Military Department said at the time they had no knowledge of any such plans.
Meanwhile, Newport and its residents aren’t waiting for more clarity. The city has scheduled a public meeting on Wednesday to talk about the possibility of increased federal presence.
This story comes to you from the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.
