Portland City Councilors Angelita Morillo and Mitch Green are asking the mayor and city administrator to expedite enforcement of a new detention center impact fee. 

In a joint letter sent to Mayor Wilson’s office Tuesday, January 27, the councilors reminded him that the detention facility fee legislation went into effect on January 2. The new city code makes it a violation for a detention facility, like the one Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operates in Portland, to emit “chemical residues or other substances beyond the detention facility premises.” That includes public right-of-ways and adjacent properties if the chemical emission “substantially interferes with the safe use and enjoyment thereof.”

Green and Morillo, who introduced the impact fee legislation, are asking the mayor and his administrative team to investigate all instances of tear gas being deployed at the ICE facility on South Macadam Avenue since January 2, and notify the property owner of any violations, as well as the city’s intent to enforce the new code.

The letter referenced events from last weekend, when federal agents at the ICE building in Portland deployed tear gas that permeated a large area near the site. 

"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," the councilors stated.

“Portlanders are demanding that we take action to protect our communities from our authoritarian Federal government,” the letter states. “We must act urgently with every tool we have.”

While the code change is already in effect, the fee structure is not. The city’s administrative branch still needs to develop a fee schedule and work out other details to make the new rules operational. 

The letter indicates Morillo and Green had hoped that process was already underway, noting the effective date of the legislation “was known well in advance” and the councilors thought the city had ample time to begin drafting new rules so they could be implemented as soon as possible. 

Morillo said the legislation was purposely crafted to leave room for city administrators and bureau directors to implement the new nuisance code in a way that made the most logistical sense to them. That includes figuring out which city bureau will handle complaints and violations. 

“We were instructed to keep the policy open ended so they could determine who would be doing enforcement,” Morillo told the Mercury Tuesday. 

“We're saying, 'hey it's now been almost 30 days since the effective date'; it would be nice to see some of those administrative rules in play," Suzy Deuster, Morillo’s policy advisor, told the Mercury. 

Morillo and Green’s letter to Wilson notes that even as the particulars of the new detention center fee are still being crafted, the city has existing nuisance codes, land use rules, and public safety provisions that would allow city staff to start monitoring for tear gas emissions and potential violations. 

The councilors say they expect "systematic documentation of deployments of tear gas and other chemical munitions" since January 2, "including dates, times, locations, witnesses, photographic/video evidence, and links to reported complaints." 

Councilor Morillo said the city's Police Bureau already frequently monitors protests and checks in with federal agencies at the ICE facility, so it should be fairly easy to determine when crowd control munitions like gas and smoke are used.

Cody Bowman, a spokesperson for the city, said more information about the implementation of the new detention center fee will be released as it becomes available. 

“City leadership remains committed to protecting community safety and ensuring accountability,” Bowman said in a statement on behalf of the city. “As the enforcement framework continues to be developed, we will work closely with the City Council and community stakeholders and will share updates as soon as more information is available.”

The detention center fee was passed as a means of recuperating costs associated with environmental degradation and remediation due to the release of chemical irritants that are often deployed during protests. Last summer, the Cottonwood School of Civics and Science, which neighbors the ICE facility, announced it was scrambling to find an alternate location to hold classes for the upcoming academic year. School officials noted the campus had become a safety hazard for students and staff due to frequent tear gas emissions and debris from crowd control munitions. 

Meanwhile, residents who live in buildings across from the facility and nearby are frequently forced to keep their windows closed. Last fall, residents told the Mercury they find their apartments covered in a fine layer of dust after heavy tear gas incidents, even when they keep their windows shut.

Currently, Portland City Council faces mounting pressure to rescind the land use permit for the ICE facility in Portland. For months, activists have called for the city to use land use codes to oust ICE, in hopes that the immigration agency would find it more difficult to operate in and around the city.

Morillo and Deuster said that pressure from anti-ICE activists wasn’t the catalyst for the detention center impact fee legislation, but any code enforcement violations levied against the ICE property could potentially impact the city’s decision to renew the land use permit in the future. 

Councilor Green emphasized that the impact fee targets landlords, not tenants, so it puts pressure on property owners to find tenants who are less likely to rack up violations. That's a key element, because property owners are responsible for getting appropriate permits and responding to code enforcement violations with the city. 

The landlord of the ICE facility, Stuart Lindquist, already faces citations for land use violations at the site due to the center being used to hold detainees for longer than the allotted 12 hour maximum.

Green's chief of staff, Maria Sipin said it's important to get the fee operational to ensure accountability on behalf of Portlanders who've been adversely impacted.

“I think there are a lot of parties who care about this, but we've got to start with the landlord," Sipin said. "That’s where the city has a range of power right now."