NEWPORT — Hundreds of people turned out Wednesday night at city hall to protest a U.S. government plan to open an ICE detention center in an abandoned U.S. Coast Guard building at the Newport Airport.

Packed like fish sticks in council chambers and lining the outer halls, scores of speakers threaded their way forward during a three-hour special meeting to denounce ICE and anyone who supported the agency charged with enforcing U.S. immigration laws. One speaker, Jamie Cutzall, captured the crowd’s spirit by declaring “the Latino population is the fabric of our community and we would not succeed without them.”

Buoyed by emails and phone calls running 98 percent against the idea, city officials talked tough. Buttoned-down Mayor Jan Kaplan warned the government had “underestimated” the city’s resolve and promised “to do everything we can to fight this.” Mild-mannered councilor Cynthia Jacobi rolled up her sleeves, too: “Know this, we are going to fight!”

City councilor C.M. Hall accused ICE of “audacious cruelty and racism,” promising to expose and name anyone “willing to take” the $50/hr. ICE jobs in Newport. “You are not welcome here,” she declared to enthusiastic applause.

But the meeting underscored another shocking development: the U.S. Coast Guard helicopter base was closed and abandoned recently without notice, taking local officials at all levels by surprise. Immediately before the meeting, only one Coast Guardsman was on duty at the airport — packing a truck and trailer headed for the new base at North Bend, Ore. Previously, the station had been occupied by about 20 officers and crew, an economic bonus for Newport but a godsend for scores of fishermen who work from its port.

A few speakers addressed the awkward revelation, including Taunette Dixon of the Newport Fishermen’s Wives, a politically-influential group. Dixon said the Wives stopped a previous move with a court injunction, then warned “We’re not going to sit idly by.”

Bryan Hanshaw of Cloverdale, representing dory fishermen, said the decision would put a cold-water rescue an hour-and-half away. “It’s ridiculous and it needs to be reversed.”

With hyperbole at high tide, City Manager Nina Vetter injected a dose of reality. “This is what we actually do know,” she told the crowd. “Number One, at the municipal airport there is a piece of property deeded to the federal government in 1992.

“Number Two, the city has received confirmation the rescue helicopter will be relocated to U.S. Coast Guard Station North Bend,” she stated. “We are unable to confirm if it is intended to be temporary or permanent.

“Number Three, the city was contacted by a third party, Team Housing Solutions Inc., with a letter of intent to lease four acres, and the city received this afternoon notice they were withdrawing,” she said to premature whoops from the audience. “So far we have no proposal directly from the Dept. of Homeland Security. But they have made us aware they are in the process of reviewing locations along the coast, and Newport was identified as a possible location for this facility.”