Thread: U.S. immigration agency to migrate from Portland to suburb

May 24, 5:21 PM EDT


U.S. immigration agency to migrate from Portland to suburb

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency plans to move out of downtown Portland to a place that could offer more security to staff members serving immigrants: suburban West Linn.

Security rules arising from terror attacks require a new building to be at least 20 feet from the street and have a lobby big enough to fit bag scanners and metal detectors.

The rules essentially meant the immigration office needed its own low-rise building - an unlikely fit for downtown Portland, according to federal officials.

One said it would have been preferable to keep the immigration office near downtown and close to bus lines for the 2,000 people a month the office helps with immigration services.

"That would have been perfect. But that would have been impossible," said Jon Kvistad, regional administrator for the U.S. General Services Administration, the federal government's real estate agency.

He said the move is part of a trend among agencies. In Portland, the FBI plans to leave downtown for a site near the airport and light rail. The immigration agency left Seattle for suburban Auburn in 2005.

The immigration office would possibly move in 2010 to an office park flanking Interstate 205.

The idea has riled immigration lawyers, urban planners and Oregon's four U.S. Democratic representatives.

They say a suburban immigration office may work in sprawling cities such as Atlanta. But not in Portland, home to smart-growth fans, a streetcar and an urban-growth boundary.

"Fundamentally, these guys are either hostile to the people they serve or there's something else going on here, but it's not good," said Ethan Seltzer, an urban studies professor at Portland State University.

Reps. Earl Blumenauer, David Wu, Darlene Hooley and Peter DeFazio signed a letter saying the move "ignores the realities of life in Oregon. ... The Portland city center is the region's governmental and service hub."

The current office is a few blocks from a new light-rail line built with tens of millions of federal dollars. The proposed office in West Linn would be about 20 miles and a one-hour bus ride from the current building and a nearly two-hour bus ride from downtown Hillsboro, hub of the metro area's Latino population.

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Information from: The Oregonian, http://www.oregonlive.com

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"Fundamentally, these guys are either hostile to the people they serve or there's something else going on here, but it's not good," said Ethan Seltzer, an urban studies professor at Portland State University.

Shut up, Ethan Seltzer. Even in your urban planning all you know how to do is to waste money! Let's make it hard on 'em.