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What's Next for the South Portland ICE Facility

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in South Portland has been a focal point of protests against the Trump administration's immigration enforcement efforts. Since last year, local activists have been calling on city leaders to do whatever is possible to close the facility. Back in September, Portland's permitting office issued a land use violation against the facility's landlords. Last week, the violation was upheld. [Oregonian / OPB]

• The violation: The city was able to prove the landlords broke the land use agreement in two ways: By allowing ICE agents to hold detainees at the facility "overnight or for more than 12 hours" on multiple occasions, and by covering windows on the first floor with plywood — which is a violation of city code. [OPB]
• Next steps: The city can issue fines against the building owners starting at $934 a month — the cost will double after two months if the violations aren't corrected. Attorneys representing the building owners are appealing the decision, claiming City Hearings Officer Charles Koutras "sped up the appeals process" which showed bias against the landlords. In August, there will be a hearing on the appeal, which could start the whole process on the land use violation over again. [OPB]
• Related: Oregon is one of a few states in the U.S. that doesn't have a long-term ICE detention facility, but there are still rumours that federal leaders have plans to build one. Last week, a local immigration law firm filed a lawsuit against a handful of federal agencies that denied formal requests for information on the matter. [Willamette Week]