City of Portland to issue land use violation notice for ICE facility

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — The City of Portland announced it will be issuing a land use violation notice for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility located in South Portland.

Following an investigation, the land use violation will be issued this Thursday, setting the stage for “a process to determine whether the site’s detention practices comply with the conditions of the site’s land use approval,” the city said in a release.

“Federal government records from a 10-month period show more than two dozen detention policy violations of the facility’s land use conditions of approval with the city, which does not allow detainees to be kept overnight or held for more than 12 hours. The notice also references a second violation related to boarded windows, which is not associated with the land use approval,” said Cody Bowman, a City of Portland spokesperson.

This comes after a conditional land use for the site at South Macadam Avenue was approved in 2011 after the building owner secured a long-term lease with the General Services Administration for two agencies associated with ICE. There is a processing center on site where federal officers detain and interview people to determine their legal status as U.S. citizens.

According to the city, the permitting bureau launched an investigation in late July following formal complaints.

Throughout the summer, demonstrations have taken place outside the ICE facility, with many protesters calling for the city to rescind its land use permit, echoing a sentiment protesters raised to city leaders during the first Trump administration.

Using data it received from the nonprofit organization the Deportation Data Project, the city determined that records indicated detainees were held beyond the facility’s 12-hour limit or kept overnight 25 times between Oct. 1, 2024, and July 27, 2025, officials said.

“U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement made clear detention limitation commitments to our community, and we believe they broke those policies more than two dozen times,” Portland Mayor Keith Wilson said in a statement. “I am proud of our team for conducting a thorough, thoughtful investigation, and referring the matter to the next steps in the land use violation process.”

Wilson later released a lengthier statement on Wednesday night, as well as a video statement, in part saying he supports Portland’s immigrant community and stands in solidarity with people who have been impacted by the actions of the federal government in recent days.

“I want to be clear about what this means. This is just one step in a formal process. The outcome is not a foregone conclusion, and the federal government will be given an opportunity to respond,” Wilson said. “However, we must remember: This review was triggered by the federal government breaking promises to our community regarding the detention of human beings. (emphasis Wilson’s).”

Following a notice of violation, a landowner or operator has 30 days to correct the issue. Fines can also be issued if there is substantial evidence of a violation, city officials said.

Despite the plans for issuing the notice of land use violation, city officials said “ICE can continue to operate under its existing land use approval” while the matter progresses.

Anti-ICE protesters attended a Portland City Council meeting on Wednesday night, with many demanding that more immediate action be taken by the city council, including the permanent revocation of the ICE facility’s building permit. Some protesters were even escorted out of City Hall chambers for making disruptions.

There was also a presence of protesters at the ICE facility, roughly two miles south of City Hall, on Wednesday night. At one point, a protester ran out into traffic and got hit by a car and was later assisted by a medic and fellow protester named Grey.

Grey spoke with KOIN 6 News, explaining she had been attending protests outside the ICE facility for over 100 days.

“This building is not only an eyesore for the community, but it represents a lot of brutality and terror and frustration and a lot of things that this community does not want,” Grey said.

Portland City Councilor Angelita Morillo told KOIN 6 News she and her colleagues don’t necessarily control matters related to land use. Instead, the permitting department will receive the violation notice, where it will then go through a bureaucratic process and possibly be put before the council again. Only then would the councilors potentially decide to fine the facility for violations or start the process of removing ICE. However, they may also decide to do nothing and let the ICE facility stay put.

“So our job is to remain neutral, assess all of the facts. And if we don’t remain neutral then we can be recused from the vote,” Morillo said.

Meanwhile, Grey said her ideal path forward “would be to no longer have this building,” echoing the sentiment of many other protesters.

KOIN 6 News reached out to ICE for comment and we have yet to hear back. We will update this story if they respond.