Resistance in Portland as City Hits ICE with Land Use Violation

The city of Portland Oregon is hitting ICE with a land use violation on Thursday, for potential violations of holding people longer than 12 hours allowed at the facility.

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In the sanctuary city of Portland, Oregon, ICE arrested two fathers who have been in the country for decades, whisking them off the streets of North Portland earlier this week, according to family members speaking to KGW.

“They remind me of piranhas looking for something to feed on,” the 21-year-old daughter of one of the detained men said to KGW about ICE still roaming the streets.

While Portland has been vigilant about organizing to help people who are detained by ICE, their operations are challenged by the speed with which they need to file habeas petitions before the detained person is taken out of Oregon, which ICE needs to do because Oregon does not have ICE facilities.

“So, if a petition is filed while a detained person is in Oregon, ICE has to release the person while litigation is pending,” KGW explained in an August 2025 article. “But there’s a catch. For Oregon to maintain jurisdiction, lawyers must file petitions before people are taken out of the state. With the Washington state border just nine miles away, lawyers have to file petitions quickly.”

This brings us to the City of Portland issuing a land use violation notice for the ICE facility on Thursday, with the intention of triggering the process to determine next steps.

The city of Portland Oregon is hitting ICE with a land use violation on Thursday, for potential violations of holding people longer than 12-hours hold allowed at the facility, which is a processing center rather than a long-term detention facility.