West

Portland City Council considers how to boot ICE out of city facility

Published

6 months ago

October 12, 2025

Portland City Council considers how to boot ICE out of city facility

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Portland’s progressive-leaning city council is exploring ways to expel Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from a detention facility that has become a flashpoint for violent clashes between agents and radical agitators.

Last week, city councilors told a packed hearing that they would consider revoking ICE’s permit to operate its South Waterfront facility along South Moody Avenue due to alleged violations of a 2011 conditional-use permit, according to local news outlet Willamette Week.

The permit allows detention and administrative use under specific limitations, but lawmakers have raised concerns that ICE has been holding detainees there for longer than the required 12-hour limit.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents detain a man outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs building during a protest Saturday, June 14, 2025, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane) (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

PATRIOTIC ICE OFFICER REPLACES AMERICAN FLAG AFTER PROTESTERS BURNED EXISTING BANNER AT PORTLAND FACILITY

Residents and lawmakers raised moral concerns too, saying that the facility undermines the city’s sanctuary city policy, while residents testified about targeted arrests, gas attacks and intimidation.

“Our values of sanctuary and humanity are under siege,” local resident Michelle Dar said. She also said that federal agents’ armed actions threatened everyone’s safety, not just that of immigrants.

Other residents complained that loud bangs and flashbangs were disrupting life for residents of subsidized housing and students of a local school. A handful of people also blamed Antifa for the ugly scenes outside the facility.

Chaotic scenes have been unfolding outside the facility since June, including in one incident where a large group of anti-ICE protesters tried to block law enforcement vehicles from entering and exiting the facility, forcing agents to deploy rubber bullets, tear gas and flash bangs to disperse the crowd.

DHS announced a new American flag was added to its Portland ICE facility after protesters burned others. (Photo courtesy of DHS )

SUSPECTED ICE FACILITY ATTACKERS ARRESTED IN BLUE CITY, CHARGED WITH ASSAULTING FEDERAL OFFICERS

Violent agitators have also smashed windows, pelted agents and the facility with rocks and other objects. On Independence Day, violent rioters cut internet cables, damaged the sprinkler system, hurled rocks and fireworks at law enforcement and burned an American flag, according to DHS.

But most residents and lawmakers’ concerns pertained to ICE’s alleged violation of its permit terms, particularly related to how long detainees were being held, rather than the violence caused by protesters or agitators.

They urged the council to revoke the permit, citing a local report that ICE had violated the permit more than two dozen times by holding detainees for longer than 12 hours.

“If we allow ICE to continue to operate when they have violated their permits, that means that anything becomes permissible moving forward,” City Council Member Angelita Morillo told the community and public safety committee hearing. “And so, for me, that change in information has changed the calculation.”

Meanwhile, City Council Member Steve Novick said the council should take a broader moral stand against the federal deportation machine.

“This is an assault on our democracy as a whole… The assault on immigrants is the tip of the spear,” Novick said, per the outlet. “We should not be trying to figure out how to keep our heads low and avoid the attention of this administration.”

City Council Member Eric Zimmerman said the chamber was exploring legal pathways to revoke the permit and that the city attorney’s office was working on a memo about the city’s legal options regarding the ICE facility.

Law enforcement officers grab a demonstrator outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs building during a protest Saturday, June 14, 2025, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

Border Czar Tom Homan last week vowed to “double down and triple down” on sanctuary cities that are obstructing ICE operations, specifically mentioning Portland.

“We’re going to do the job,” Homan said on Fox News’ “Kudlow.”

“We’re going to do it in Portland too. But for the mayors of New York City and Chicago, President [Donald] Trump made it clear two weeks ago, we are going to double down and triple down the sanctuary cities. … If we can’t arrest that bad guy in the jail, then we’ll go to the community and we’ll find him. Or we’ll do more worksite enforcement.”

Fox News’ Alexandra Koch and Bill Melugin contributed to this report.

Michael Dorgan is a writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business.

You can send tips to michael.dorgan@fox.com and follow him on Twitter @M_Dorgan.

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Montana

Montana’s measures to tackle housing crunch offer hope for Michigan

Published

1 hour ago

March 27, 2026

Press Room

Montana’s measures to tackle housing crunch offer hope for Michigan

News Story

State House considers reforms that allowed greater variety of construction in Big Sky State

Michigan could follow Montana’s lead after state House members introduced a bipartisan package of bills aimed at making housing less costly.

“The bipartisan Housing Readiness Package modernizes our development processes to reduce unnecessary costs and delays, making housing more affordable and available across the state,” according to a press release from the House Republican caucus. “This is about ensuring Michigan is prepared for growth and that more residents have access to safe, stable homes.”

The package draws on ideas Montana successfully enacted in 2023 and 2025 to ease the state’s housing shortage. It includes Michigan House bills 5529, 5530, 5531, 5532, 5581, 5582, 5583, 5584 and 5585. The package is intended to restrain cities and counties from restricting accessory dwelling units, duplexes, and other non-single-family units; to limit protests and impact studies on developments; and to reduce local red tape.

Housing costs in Michigan have almost doubled in recent years, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Michigan has exceeded the pace of housing inflation found in other states.

The average price of homes in the state was about 75% of the national average in 2012, but it is roughly 82% of the average today, according to Jarrett Skorup, vice president of marketing and communications at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.

Inflation, interest rates, and rising construction costs have increased housing prices, Skorup told Michigan Capitol Confidential, but local government red tape is still making things worse.

“A lot of this is because of dumb, unnecessary, big-government policies at the local level,” Skorup told CapCon in an email. “This bill package protects the private property rights of citizens in a way similar to what Montana and many other states have done. It is good policy that will help people afford to live where they want.”

Montana made changes to legalize duplexes, allow accessory dwelling units, open commercial zones to housing, and permit taller buildings that can accommodate more housing units.

The laws faced a legal challenge, but the Montana Supreme Court unanimously upheld the bipartisan legislation.

“There are a lot of similarities between what is being proposed in Michigan and what we accomplished in Montana,” Forrest Mandeville, a Republican state senator from Stillwater County, told Michigan Capitol Confidential in an email.

Montana enacted laws that call for freedom to build duplexes and accessory dwelling units by right (with no need for extra approvals) in many cities. The Big Sky State also streamlined review processes and simplified public participation.

“These reforms were necessitated by a housing market that was seeing prices skyrocket and existing zoning that created a lot of single-family-only development in large areas,” Mandeville said.

A broad coalition supported the changes: builders, real estate agents, free-market advocates and some local government groups, Mandeville told CapCon. Housing prices and rents have stabilized since the legislation was enacted.

“We tried to get government out of the way to encourage building without red tape,” Sen. Jeremy Trebas, a Cascade County Republican, told CapCon in an email about the housing situation in Bozeman. With a population of 60,000 and slow growth, the city faced a housing crunch, with a large inventory of aging and obsolete buildings. Expensive housing and taxes, Trebas said, were driving people to move to Washington, California and other states.

“If we could change land-use policy, encourage development of higher density like duplexes as infill, allow for housing in commercial zones (as it was a 100 years ago), reduce minimum lot sizes, and allow by-right accessory dwelling units and such, we could let the market work to produce density and supply without spending government dollars to incentivize it,” Trebas said.

Opponents of Montana’s reforms expressed concerns about more people moving in from out-of-state, said Trebas. He countered that Montana natives were hurt by high costs that price upcoming generations out of the housing market.

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Nevada

Scholarships available for Nevada Youth Range Camp

Published

1 hour ago

March 27, 2026

Press Room

Scholarships available for Nevada Youth Range Camp

The Nevada Division of Forestry and the Nevada Section of the Society for Range Management are inviting high school-aged students from around the Silver State to participate in the 2026 Nevada Youth Range Camp essay competition.

“The Nevada Youth Range Camp is a yearly educational opportunity that has been held each summer in central Nevada since 1961,” stated a press release. “Last year, eight students were awarded scholarships and received a certificate of achievement.”

Selected essays will receive up to $250 to register for this year’s Youth Range Camp. Students must be between ages 14 and 18 in order to apply. Parental consent is also required. Essays that are flagged for plagiarism or that utilize AI will be disqualified.

“Range Camp has served Nevada’s youth for 65 years. It is a great opportunity for anyone interested in natural resources to learn basic rangeland and resource management skills,” said Kelcey Hein, Conservation Education lead at the Nevada Division of Forestry, in a statement.

According to the application form, this year’s essay prompt is:

“In your own words, tell a story or a few stories of when you were able to connect with a natural space such as a park, your backyard, a farm, a field, a forest, a beach, or so on. Please incorporate three (3) key words from the key word list that you noticed of that ecosystem into your response. Explain what you noticed about these aspects that drew your attention in that space. How did this influence you and your goals as a future steward of Natural Resources?”

Visit bit.ly/RangeCamp2026 for submission forms, essay instructions and the full rules. The contest is open until April 30.

For more information about the Nevada Division of Forestry, visit forestry.nv.gov.

Visit nevada.rangelands.org for more information about the Nevada Section of the Society for Range Management.

Contact reporter Elijah Dulay at edulay@pvtimes.com

Nevada Youth Range Camp: June 21 through June 27

“We invite high school youth to enjoy a week of fun, camping, and learning about rangelands and natural resource management,” states the Nevada Section of the Society for Range Management website. “This year the camp headquarters will be located in the Timber Creek Campground area Northwest of McGill, NV. This area provides a splendid setting for learning and recreation.”

“The week is filled with many learning opportunities. Instructors teach various subjects through group investigations. Camp instructors and counselors are trained specialists from the University of Nevada, Reno; Nevada State Parks; Natural Resources Conservation Service; Bureau of Land Management; Forest Service; Nevada Division of Forestry; Nevada Division of Conservation Districts; Nevada Division of Wildlife; and others,” the Nevada Section of the Society for Range Management website continues.

“Campers arrive by noon on Sunday and break camp the following Saturday morning. Campers register and form groups with an adult counselor and assistant youth counselor. The weeklong program runs from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., and includes instruction, projects, rest, meals, and recreation,” the Nevada Section of the Society for Range Management website reads further. “Adult supervision occurs throughout the entire week. Parents and sponsors are welcome to visit the camp any time and are especially invited for the Friday night awards program. The evening programs are geared more for enjoyment and personal interest and include map and compass orientation, conservation skill workshops, wildlife presentations, and campfires.”

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