MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - JANUARY 28: People attend a candlelight vigil organized by healthcare workers at the site where Alex Pretti was killed on January 24, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The vigil was held to remember the lives of Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse at a VA medical center who died January 24, after being shot multiple times during a brief altercation with border patrol agents, and Renee Good a 37-year-old mother of three children who was killed by ICE agents on January 7. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Roseburg is one of only two Oregon cities listed for I.C.E. operations alongside Portland, on the Department of Homeland Security’s website.
But the Roseburg City Council, aware that the Douglas County Commissioners will likely cooperate with I.C.E., prudently omitted this topic from the agenda for their 7:00 pm meeting on Monday, March 23, 2026.
However, a whistleblower posted this intelligence publicly on social media and nearly a dozen citizens appeared at the meeting to express their opposition the rental of Roseburg real estate to I.C.E,. and demanding the council place this item not the agenda for their next meeting and vote against cooperating with I.C.E.
Julian Gomez told the council, “On March 20th the federal government posted an ad about leasing nonresidential buildings to support Immigration and Customs Enforcement [I.C.E.] I’m here today to oppose any support of I.C.E… I want us to reflect for one second, that Oregon is a sanctuary state. What does that mean? A study from the National Immigration Law Center shows that sanctuary policies make communities safer and more prosperous. Not only that, but undocumented people have been contributing over $90 billion dollars in taxes to the economy every year…
“Umpqua Valley wine is some of the best in the country. Who do you think is going to be primarily working those vineyards? Which industries do you think will be most impacted from immigration raids? So, hopefully I’ve humanized migrants to some degree. Now, for some fun facts about I.C.E. Let’s start with their concentration camps and their continuous purchase of land around the country to make more. The infamous Alligator Alcatraz in Florida thankfully shut down. More than 1,200 detainees have disappeared—not deported, not released—disappeared off the grid. The families cannot find them. These aren’t the worst of the worst, as this pedophilic administration keeps claiming. As of January of this year, 41% of these people detained have zero criminal record. These are humans who have lived in the U.S. for years, trying to raise families, work, and help our economy, and have posed zero threats.
“A concentration camp in Dilley Texas, has terrible conditions including moldy food, used underwear, inadequate toiletries, and rampant disease. This is the same facility that nearly 600 children have been held in. Citizens and migrants are both being killed because of I.C.E. and their policies. I shouldn’t have to differentiate between the two. What kind of society are we trying to live in, where a pedophile starts a war and uses our taxes to attack us in our own communities. If Rosenberg wants to progress from its violent and racist past, and join the world to build a safer world for everyone, then we should reject all attempts from the federal government to expand this racist murderous costly and stupid organization.”
Sherry Chambers addressed the council saying, “We became aware that the D.H.S. is seeking opportunities to establish I.C.E. ‘workstations’ in Roseburg, Oregon. We strongly oppose renting office space to D.H.S. and I.C.E. because this agency and their agents are habitually operating outside the U.S. Constitution and are routinely violating the civil rights of U.S. citizens and legal immigrants.
“I.C.E. personnel lack adequate law enforcement training and have not been held accountable for killing, injuring, and wrongly detaining U.S. citizens. Further, I.C.E. personnel are aggressively targeting nonwhite people and detaining them without cause, question, or due process. These types of actions are blatantly illegal and racist. We do not want to welcome their violence and lawlessness to our peaceful city. Please understand that, in our opinion, your first priority as a city council is to do all that you can to ensure the health and safety of Roseburg residents. Permitting I.C.E. to operate an office in Roseburg is sure to decrease the safety of our residents and the security of our community.”
Lori Price was the next to speak. “I’m here to oppose the I.C.E. facility. And I just want to share a little bit about my background: I spent close to three decades working as a city employee. And I was trying to think of what a council can do to oppose this. It’s a little different, how they’re coming in—sneaking I’d call it—into our community… Instead of trying to build a facility where they might have to come to a planning permission or a council for approval, they’re actually trying to rent office space. So, what my thought is, if you support [those of] us that oppose this, that we might get this on a future agenda the next council meeting and get your official support of opposition. It’s horrible for communities. I mean, the means and methods of what they’re doing; it’s just —I mean you’ve all seen the news! We don’t want this here!”
Sean Vincent, a local real estate broker told the council, “First off, I want to state clearly, without hesitation, that I’m firmly opposed to the presence of I.C.E or any expanded immigration enforcement in our community. We must take a step back and consider the broader consequences of what this would mean. Not just in theory but in the day-to-day reality of our town. Increased immigration enforcement doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It creates fear instability and disruption.
“Workers, who are essential to our local economy, will disappear. Some forced to flee, others detained, many caught up in situations that raise serious questions about fairness and a lack of due process. We are already seeing the effects. Attendance in classrooms is dropping. Drop sites are understaffed. This is not speculation; it’s happening now… The reality is, our farms and small businesses depend on this workforce. And the truth is very few people in our community are willing…to take on these jobs, that wages are offered currently offered that leaves small businesses with impossible choices. Raise wages beyond what they can sustain, and risk going under or shut their doors entirely.
“We don’t have to guess what this looks like. We can look at states like Florida, where aggressive enforcement led to labor shortages so severe, that crops went unharvested and local economies suffered. Farm communities were hollowed out. That ripple effect doesn’t stop at the field. That spreads to every corner of the local economy. At the same time, we have to ask what it means, to bring heavily armed federal enforcement into a quiet community like ours. These are individuals operating with broad authority, often with limited accountability or training. To the people who live here, that should concern us all, regardless of where we stand politically.
“Beyond economics and safety, there is a deeper moral question we cannot ignore. History shows us what can happen when groups of people are singled out, targeted, and dehumanized. While the contexts are different, the warning signs, fear-based policies, collective punishment, and the erosion of civil liberties, are patterns we have seen before. We should not ignore them. It’s also important to ground this conversation in facts. Study after study has shown that undocumented immigrants commit crimes at lower rates than U.S. citizens. If public safety is truly our priority here, then we should be focusing our attention and resources where they actually make a difference with the trafficking and domestic violence in this town.
“So, I ask you members of the council to think carefully about the path forward. If I.C.E. presence expands here, the consequences will not be abstract. They will be showing up in our schools and our businesses, and in our neighborhoods. And when that happens, people will come to you for answers. In that moment, you will have to decide. Will you say ‘there is nothing you can do” or will you stand behind the impact of these decisions? I don’t believe anyone here wants to be in that position. This is ultimately about the kind of community we want to be.”
Lorrie Wick addressed the council, “I’m here to oppose the potential office space rental for I.C.E that’s advertised on Homeland Security’s website. And so, it could be here in the county area… They are being paid $22-$30 billion. This budget exceeds that of the U.S. Federal Prison [System]… If you looked at what they [I.C.E agents] looked like in their uniforms before this administration, and after this administration, you would see a completely different type of a uniform… [Now] they look like a military branch… I had read in the paper that somebody in another county reached out to the federal agencies to invite I.C.E. to their community. I don’t know if that’s happened here. Maybe…there’s a supportive county level leader, or a city level leader.
“As to why only Portland or Roseburg is listed on the Homeland Security [website] as the two places that they’re looking to find office spaces, but that’s deeply concerning on many levels….it doesn’t make sense that they would be trying to establish [it] here. Except, I do understand that we have a jail system that does receive inmates on a regional level, so I’m just kind of looking forward into trends and systems and why maybe they’re strategically looking to Roseburg.”
Lupe McAlister, who ran for the Oregon State Senate in 2024, told the council, “I’m here on behalf of myself and a lot of undocumented people that have lived through a lot of this crap that is going to happen to this town, should you allow it to happen. I’ve lived in portions of the world where, just going home I have to go by bunkers, and this is in Mexico… If you think that I.C.E is not going to bring that to this city, you’re wrong, because it’s happening now. They’re killing our own people they don’t care if you’re white, brown, yellow—I mean it’s happening everywhere! So, I would encourage you guys to think twice about voting yes for this.
“Number one: our systems—the infrastructure is not there. Who’s gonna pay for the increase in sewer systems [and] water industries? Are they going to come in and, for the goodness of their own whatever—greed—put in the water system that will be able to handle whatever support these people need? No, they’re going to expect the taxpayer—us, the people behind us you…to pay for all this crap.
“I don’t mean to be disrespectful, but I get really pissed off at what this administration is doing to all its citizens. Everybody has a right to live in this country. Some people escape, trying to come to this country for a better life. Is that a crime? I don’t think so. I came to this country 61 years ago. This world has changed a great deal—not all for the good. Please, I beseech you, don’t allow this to happen. It is frightening what follows.”
Rachel Whisenhunt said that she was “here to voice my opposition to renting to I.C.E. facilities. I heard an officer speaking moments ago about the cooperation in this state with police and I.C.E. on certain things… We understand [that] we want the worst of the worst out. I’m afraid what you’re proposing for Roseburg and I.C.E. facility rental would be detrimental to the community— the wine industry, the water—we have a beautiful river, my God, [we] have forest fires; we need our water! And if anybody’s ever spent time in a very large hospital like I did to help my daughter get a liver transplant, I guarantee you—there’s not a lot of first language English [speakers] from any of the doctors, nurses, [or] healthcare maintenance. Please—we don’t want this in America! I don’t want an I.C.E. facility! I love this community and oppose renting to I.C.E.”
It remains to be seen whether this important matter will be included on the agenda for the next meeting of the Roseburg City Council.
