Ashland Adopts Proclamation Opposing ICE Facilities in Rogue Valley

ASHLAND, Ore. (Aug. 24, 2026) — The city of Ashland is officially adopting a proclamation opposing Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities in the Rogue Valley.

Ashland Mayor Tonya Graham read the proclamation during a business meeting Tuesday. It was first presented to the City Council by Ashland’s Social Equity and Racial Justice Advisory Committee.

The proclamation expresses the city’s opposition to the establishment of ICE detention facilities in the Rogue Valley amid an ongoing national and local debate over federal immigration enforcement and detention.

There are no known ICE detention facilities in Ashland at this time.

An ICE field office is located on the east side of the Rogue Valley International-Medford Airport in northeast Medford. The existing Medford facility is not an overnight detention facility. It includes a hold room used for individuals in ICE custody but is not an overnight lodging center.

Supporters of the Ashland proclamation say opposing a detention facility is consistent with the city’s commitment to racial equity and reflects concerns about the treatment of immigrants in federal detention. They argue that local communities should have a voice in decisions involving immigration detention and that expanding detention capacity could have significant effects on families and communities.

Opponents of the proclamation argue that immigration enforcement and detention are matters of federal jurisdiction and that local governments should not interfere with federal agencies carrying out federal law. They also contend that detention facilities provide a mechanism for federal authorities to hold individuals while immigration proceedings are conducted and that opposition to such facilities can make it more difficult to enforce federal immigration laws.

The proclamation does not change federal immigration law or ICE’s authority to conduct immigration enforcement. It also does not prohibit federal immigration enforcement activities in Ashland or elsewhere in the Rogue Valley.

Instead, the action represents the City of Ashland’s formal position against the establishment of an ICE detention facility in the Rogue Valley.