This story was originally published on LincolnChronicle.org and is used with permission.
Newport and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Friday settled the city’s lawsuit that sought to keep a planned federal immigration detention center out of the municipal airport after 10 months of legal fights and more than $368,000 in attorney fees.
The city filed suit in U.S. District Court last December to block any attempts of an immigration detention center at its airport. The defendants, which also included the U.S. Coast Guard and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, admitted they planned a detention center at the Newport airport last year and tried unsuccessfully to dismiss the case against them.
The city sought a settlement aimed at keeping a detention center out of the city. But federal officials pushed back deadlines and asked for more time to approve the agreement — much to the annoyance of Newport’s lawyers.
Friday’s settlement lays out that Homeland Security had planned a detention center in Newport and doesn’t necessarily block future plans but only that the agencies must give 30 days notice should it plan a detention center in Newport.
“Under the settlement, ICE has stipulated that it currently has no plans to expand existing detention facilities or open new long- or short-term detention facilities anywhere in Oregon,” the city announced Friday. “The Department of Homeland Security has also agreed to provide the city of Newport with at least 30 days notice before issuing an environmental assessment or environmental impact statement for a plan to construct or operate a detention facility in Newport.”
The legal battle racked up fees with the city’s outside attorneys and several municipalities including Portland, Yachats, Ashland and Benton County have made contributions to its legal funds.
Earlier this month during a status hearing in federal court in Eugene, Stoll Berne attorney Keith Ketterling urged Judge Ann Aiken to set a hard deadline for the government’s final approval. The judge gave Justice Department lawyers until Friday to obtain final approval from their bosses for the negotiated settlement. If the top tier of the federal Justice Department does not sign off on the agreement by then the case would go back into discovery, Aiken said.
On Friday, the agreement was filed, approved and the lawsuit officially dismissed.
“This has been a long and challenging process for our community, and we have remained committed to protecting Newport’s interests every step of the way,” Mayor Jan Kaplan said in a news release Friday.
“Our responsibility is to stand up for our residents, protect our community’s future and ensure that decisions affecting Newport are made with the transparency and accountability our community deserves,” the statement said. “We are pleased to have reached this agreement, and we will continue to keep our community informed.”
- Shayla Escudero is an enterprise reporter for the Lincoln Chronicle covering local governments, education, housing and social services and can be reached at Shayla@LincolnChronicle.org
