This story was originally published on LincolnChronicle.org and is used with permission.
The city of Newport helped fend off an effort by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to land Oregon’s first and only immigration detention center at its airport.
Now the legal bills to fight the government’s effort could reach $500,000 – so Newport is asking other cities and counties across the state if they will pitch in to help pay.
When a federal contractor expressed interest in creating a detention center at the airport and the Coast Guard’s rescue helicopter was removed without notice, two separate lawsuits aimed to foil their plans. Newport Fisherman’s Wives, Lincoln County and attorney general Dan Rayfield filed suit against the U.S. Coast Guard.
As a result, the helicopter was returned to its station at the airport in December and federal officials told a judge in March that the agency was no longer eyeing Newport for a potential detention center.
The city also filed its own lawsuit to stop the formation of an ICE facility at the airport and has racked up more than $350,000 in legal fees so far and expect them to go higher.
So Mayor Jan Kaplan is asking cities and counties across the state to help Newport cover the cost. So far, two progressive cities – Yachats and Ashland – and Benton County have agreed to chip in.
Money, money, money
The city expects legal fees to exceed $500,000. So far it’s paid $356,647 to Portland law firm Stoll Berne through the month of March, city attorney Tiffany Johnson told the Lincoln Chronicle.
Eight lawyers have collectively worked hundreds of hours on the case with the firm’s top-billed attorney charging $800 an hour, according to a January invoice. In March, the city council approved moving $350,000 from the general fund to cover legal fees.
Last week, the Newport city council accepted $15,000 from Ashland and $7,000 from Yachats. Benton County also committed to giving the city $5,000, which will be approved at the next council meeting.
“This isn’t an isolated incident, it has regional affect and Newport shouldn’t stand alone in that,” said Benton County commissioner Gabe Shepherd during the May 19 meeting.
The funds are a direct result of a letter Kaplan sent to an email list of Oregon mayors. He also brought up the topic in regional meetings.
“The city of Newport is asking for financial support from other local governments who would be impacted by a detention facility, as the potential establishment of an immigration enforcement, detention, processing, or related facility in Newport, Ore. has regional impacts on the safety, local economy and public infrastructure,” Kaplan wrote in his April 3 solicitation.
“Additionally, the United States Coast Guard rescue helicopter, located within the grounds of the Newport Municipal Airport, is critical for search and rescue missions in the region.”
The message asked for between $5,000 and $20,000 from any local government that could afford to help.
Back in December, people reached out to the city asking if they could donate money to help keep the ICE facility out of town, Kaplan said in an interview with the Lincoln Chronicle. Initially, Kaplan thought it would be a good idea to accept private donations but learned that could create privacy issues since the donations would be subject to public records law and there were concerns over safety since the topic was contentious.
“In my heart I believe had we done this in December we would have gotten a bigger response,” Kaplan told the Chronicle.
There was a time when the issue was more energized. More than 800 people showed up to city hall and online to voice their opposition and news outlets across the state were following the issue closely. The topic even made its way on the Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC, now MSNOW.
“It is unusual to ask other cities for money but in this case I believe we were the eye of the spear and if we had not acted quickly a detention center would have been built here.”
