A federal defense contractor is inquiring about reserving hundreds of hotel rooms on the Oregon coast for a year, the city of Newport said Tuesday. It’s the latest sign that a suspected effort to build an immigrant detention center on the coast has not gone away.

In a video posted to Instagram on Tuesday, Newport Mayor Jan Kaplan reported that the city had confirmed that a contractor called Team Housing Solutions “has called multiple hotels up and down the coast, as recently as this morning.” According to Kaplan, the organization was “looking for as many hotel rooms for a year.”

The announcement marks a new twist in a weekslong saga that has left many in Newport confused and outraged, and ramped up fear in local immigrant communities.

Team Housing Solutions is a Texas-based contractor that specializes in quickly standing up housing for federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security. In early November, the organization inquired about leasing 4 acres of land at the Newport Municipal Airport, raising speculation that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had Newport in mind for a new facility.

Oregon is one of the few states in the country that does not have a large-scale immigration detention facility.

Team Housing Solutions pulled back its inquiry in the face of public outcry, but Kaplan’s announcement Tuesday suggests it is still looking for a purchase in Newport. ICE, DHS and Team Housing Solutions have not responded to inquiries about federal interest in the city.

The newly reported outreach to coastal hotels is just one sign that ICE is still looking at Newport. The Oregon Capital Chronicle reported Tuesday that another federal contractor recently contacted the state on behalf of ICE, inquiring about environmental regulations related to an unspecified project in Newport.

As Newport tries to learn what federal authorities may have in mind, the city is celebrating a court victory.

On Monday, a federal judge ordered the U.S. Coast Guard to return a rescue helicopter it had long stationed at the city’s airport. The aircraft was relocated with no explanation in late October. A pair of lawsuits has since challenged that move, arguing that the helicopter is necessary to prevent deaths, particularly ahead of the fast-approaching Dungeness crab season.

The temporary restraining order by U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken lasts for two weeks, though the judge may consider a more permanent ruling.

The inquiries by contractors, combined with the helicopter removal, have led many in Newport to conclude ICE hopes to detain undocumented immigrants in the city, flying them elsewhere using the airport land controlled by the Coast Guard.

“The reason they wanted Newport is there’s an airstrip,” Kate Sinkins, a Lincoln City immigration attorney, told OPB last week. “They want to be able to put people in a detention facility and not give them due process and then fly ‘em to home country without anyone really paying attention. That is not going to happen. We are paying attention.”

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/11/25/federal-defense-contractor-hotel-rooms-newport/