Oregon ICE Activity — Weekly Update (2/20/26)
Legal Wins for Oregon, New Website Tracking Contracts with ICE/CBP, and Portland City Councilor Calls for Open Carry in Response to Protest
We’re yet to see a major new surge of ICE raids in Oregon after many of the agents appear to have left for Minnesota. With quotes like “Oregon was next,” people are understandably on edge and expect a possible crackdown on Portland in the coming months.
Detentions
There were 14 detentions reported to the Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition hotline between February 9 and February 15. Half of these were during check-ins at the ICE processing center on Macadam Ave in South Portland. This actively discourages people from going to their ICE check-ins, which can then lead to their detention later, creating a lose-lose predicament.
Legal
There’s also quite a bit of legal news this week. The federal government has officially dropped its appeal in the National Guard case in Portland, setting a strong precedent against the Trump administration’s attempts to occupy the city.
Attorney General Dan Rayfield just keeps racking up wins, including joining the ACLU’s class action lawsuit against DHS for their use of excessive force at the Portland ICE building. Rayfield’s office submitted evidence and testimony supporting the lawsuit and called for a preliminary injunction (the next step after a temporary restraining order).
In that same case, US District Court Judge Michael Simon extended the temporary restraining order barring federal agents from using crowd control munitions unless an individual poses “an imminent threat of physical harm to a law enforcement officer or other person.”
Activism
Melt Oregon is a new website tracking financial ties between Oregon-based businesses and federal immigration enforcement. Using public contract data from USAspending.gov, the site linked around $200 million in federal contracts between Oregon businesses and ICE/CBP contracts between 2020 and 2026. Even better, the site outlines how other states can follow suit.
A protest at Portland City Hall calling for the revocation of ICE’s land use permit resulted in a significant meeting disruption, four arrests, and City Councilor Loretta Smith drafting an ordinance for councilors to be able to open carry while conducting city business… I seriously have a hard time imagining a worse response.