Letter from Councilor Green and Councilor Morillo to Mayor Keith Wilson

Date: January 27, 2026

To: Mayor Keith Wilson

From: Portland City Councilors

District 4 Councilor Mitch Green and District 3 Councilor Angelita Morillo

Subject: Request for Enforcement of Detention Facility Impact Code

Dear Mayor Wilson,

As the sponsors of the Detention Facility Fee legislation that added Chapter 5.80 to the Portland City Code we are writing to respectfully request urgent action to investigate violations and move toward enforcement. We brought forward the Detention Facility Fee legislation to not only ensure that property owners who lease to entities like ICE internalize the externalities they create with their commercial relationship with them, but also to establish that it is not permissible to allow their tenants to emit chemical residues like tear gas beyond the premises of their facility.

Effective January 2, 2026, it is a violation of Portland City Code for a landlord to allow their tenants to tear gas a neighborhood, and yet this is precisely what occurred on January 24, 2026, at the Macadam ICE Facility.

We recognize that it takes time to establish administrative rules to fully operationalize Chapter 5.80 of Portland City Code. However, we believe there are concrete, immediate steps that you can take today to show Portlanders that we will not tolerate the tear-gassing of our neighborhoods in violation of our local laws. We urge you to direct the City Administrator to immediately:

• Investigate all deployments of tear gas and other chemical munitions occurring after the effective date of PCC 5.80.030 And notify the property owner of 4310 S Macadam Ave., Portland OR, 97239 of any violation of PCC 5.80.030 with intention to enforce the city's provisions against prohibited nuisances.

Portlanders are demanding that we take action to protect our communities from our authoritarian Federal government. We must act urgently with every tool we have. The Detention Facility Impact Fee chapter in city code was designed with this urgency in mind. In the spirit of acting urgently with every tool we have, our offices expect to see tangible progress in the following areas that are squarely within the scope of work of the Mayor and City Administrator:

1. Expedited administrative rulemaking to operationalize Chapter 5.80, including the full schedule of impact fees and nuisance penalties, definitions of key terms, and clear investigation and appeal procedures, on a timeline that reflects the urgency and foreseeability of enforcement. The effective date of Chapter 5.80 was known well in advance of January 2, 2026, and we understood this advance notice to provide an opportunity for preliminary rule development so that draft rules could be implemented quickly following passage and enforcement could start immediately.
2. Use of all existing City powers, including longstanding nuisance code, to document and act on harmful conduct at and around the Macadam facility. The City already has nuisance, land use, and public safety provisions on the books that can be used to investigate and respond to harmful conduct at this site, independent of the new detention facility regulations. Chapter 5.80 should be understood as additive to, not a prerequisite for, the use of existing enforcement authority.

Further, the City has already created a structured way for residents to report problems near the ICE facility, including excessive force, noise, and other impacts, via the City's official reporting resources and links on "How to report problems near the ICE facility" on Portland.gov. These complaint channels should be widely publicized, actively monitored by City staff, and aggregated into a centralized case log to support enforcement proceedings. Council should be briefed on how this information is being used to inform investigations, enforcement decisions, and intergovernmental coordination, so that the legislative body can assess whether existing tools are being applied effectively.

To build legally robust cases, including large-scale claims tied to repeated chemical munitions deployments, we expect:

• Systematic documentation of deployments of tear gas and other chemical munitions after January 2, 2026, including dates, times, locations, witnesses, photographic/video evidence, and links to reported complaints. This data will support enforcement actions under Chapter 5.80 and enable Council and the public to understand the full scope of harms.
• Creative coordination with City Bureaus including Portland Police Bureau (PPB) to use their observations, incident reports, and presence near the facility as additional factual documentation. While PPB does not engage in immigration enforcement, they do monitor protests and related activity near the facility and make reports that should support potential follow-up investigations by the Oregon Attorney General.

1. Expedited land use and permitting enforcement independent of Chapter 5.80. We expect the City to aggressively use its existing land use and permitting authority with respect to the Macadam facility, including conducting expedited compliance reviews based on complaints already received and any new complaints that arise. Where violations are identified, the City should issue warnings, notices of violation, or fines as authorized under current City code.

Enforcement of the detention facility impact fee and nuisance provisions should not conflict with, supersede, or otherwise delay land use or permitting actions. These are distinct authorities, and progress on one should not be conditioned on completion of the other.

1. Active collaboration with state and county partners that possess overlapping or complementary authority, including the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and Multnomah County Health, to ensure that air quality impacts and public health concerns are promptly and credibly investigated. Where the City lacks direct jurisdiction, we expect the administration to actively facilitate and document intergovernmental engagement rather than cite jurisdictional limits as a barrier to action.

Thank you for your leadership in this, we look forward to partnering with you to protect all Portlanders.

Signed,

Councilor Mitch Green - District 4
Councilor Angelita Morillo - District 3

Download a copy of this letter.