Federal agents have deployed so much tear gas near Mindy King’s Portland, Oregon apartment that she and her 13-year-old son have resorted to wearing gas masks inside their home. Her neighbor, Diane Moreno, has made two urgent care visits due to chest tightness and nasal bleeding. Both residents point to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office, located less than 100 feet from their building, as the source of their distress.
For months, ICE agents have intermittently used tear gas against protesters near the facility. King and others fear that the consistent exposure to these chemicals presents a serious danger to their health.
Now, King and other residents of their affordable housing complex are suing the Trump administration with a novel legal argument: the U.S. government is knowingly releasing toxic gas into its citizens’ homes. They claim the chemicals cling to walls, carpets, clothing, furniture, and even children’s toys, creating a hazardous living environment.
Legal experts note that this case is unique, focusing on the public health and environmental repercussions of tear gas rather than traditional civil rights or police misconduct.
The lawsuit also alleges that federal agents sometimes deployed chemical munitions not for crowd control, but to generate dramatic visuals for conservative media influencers invited to the facility. A hearing for an injunction against further chemical use is scheduled for Friday.
“I can’t believe I’m living in a world where I have to worry about tear gas in my home,” expressed Mindy King, a single mother whose apartment at Gray’s Landing directly overlooks the ICE facility. “There’s no sense of security. This isn’t home anymore.”
Experts suggest this case highlights the severe impact of recent federal immigration crackdowns in U.S. cities.
Dr. Anthony M. Szema, a clinical professor of medicine and chair of the Section on Terrorism and Inhalation Disasters at the American Thoracic Society, emphasized that tear gas, while banned internationally in warfare but used domestically in policing, is “an indiscriminate weapon and a respiratory hazard, period.”
“If it wafts into an enclosed space, like a car or a housing development where children are, where pregnant women are, where elderly people are,” Dr. Szema warned, “that’s a setup for disaster.”
In response, Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (which oversees ICE), stated that federal agents are “authorized to do what is appropriate and necessary in each situation to diffuse violence against our officers.”
The lawsuit targets the Department of Homeland Security and its secretary, Kristi Noem, among other related agencies.
McLaughlin asserted that the frequent protests at the Portland ICE facility were “not remotely ICE’s fault.” (A federal judge recently described the protests in Portland as “largely peaceful” and has prevented the deployment of the National Guard to the city.)
Tear gas is engineered for short-term use, not prolonged exposure over weeks or months. Its purpose is to temporarily incapacitate individuals without causing lasting harm.
Yet, growing research suggests that the immediate physical discomfort—intense irritation of the eyes, skin, nose, throat, and lungs—caused by tear gas exposure may not always be temporary. For both protesters and the general public, there’s increasing evidence that tear gas can lead to long-term skin and lung damage, exacerbate asthma, trigger infections like bronchitis and pneumonia, and, in some instances, even cause blindness. Dr. Rohini Haar, an emergency physician and medical adviser to Physicians for Human Rights, noted that “These chemical irritants can injure so many different part of your body.”
The use of tear gas in Portland stems from protests that began last summer. In late September, then-President Trump announced he was “directing Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to deploy all necessary Troops to protect War-ravaged Portland.”
The lawsuit claims agents have used tear gas unnecessarily against mostly nonviolent protests, sometimes even for the benefit of media influencers filming on site. An incident on October 4 saw a small group of protesters at the ICE facility hit with tear gas and smoke grenades, with military helicopters hovering overhead, as influencers captured videos.
Ben Bergquam, a prominent right-wing media personality, later posted a video titled “Happening now at the Portland ICE facility! Multiple arrests, tear gas and the fight to save our country!”
The White House incorporated scenes of tear gas and smoke into a video montage, with the Gray’s Landing building visible in the smoky background.
Days later, Mr. Trump hosted several of these media figures at the White House for a presidential roundtable.
The White House directed all comments to the Department of Homeland Security.
Tear gas is not a true gas, but a powder mixed with solvents and propellants, which can themselves be toxic.
Dr. Haar highlights that the health effects of exposure are especially dangerous for children, seniors, and individuals with existing medical conditions. There are still significant gaps in research, particularly concerning long-term effects.
Once deployed, tear gas can linger in the environment long after the visible smoke dissipates. In 2019, following days of tear gas use by Hong Kong police against anti-government protesters, several schools temporarily closed for deep cleaning.
Reach Community Development, the nonprofit managing Gray’s Landing, reports spending over $100,000 on air filtration systems and other equipment to shield the building’s approximately 240 residents from tear gas.
Measuring the travel distance of tear gas or its ease of entry into nearby buildings remains challenging. Forensic Architecture, a research agency at Goldsmiths College, University of London, investigated tear gas use by Portland police during a 2020 Black Lives Matter protest. They found it likely spread at least half a mile, with airborne concentrations in some areas exceeding a federally-recognized safety limit by over 800 times.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) fact sheet on tear gas states that harmful effects are “more likely if someone was exposed in a closed setting, such as indoors,” and advises people “to get out of the building.” However, the CDC does not specify actions to take if tear gas is also being used outside.
The chemical industry initially developed these “harassing agents,” primarily a compound called CN, during World War I. Since then, CS, considered more potent yet less toxic, has become the most common agent.
International law now prohibits tear gas in warfare, but the United States and other nations have successfully advocated for an exception allowing its use in domestic policing.
Karen Pita Loor, a clinical professor of law and protest expert at Boston University School of Law, described the case as “a sign of the times.”
“We’ve been talking a lot about the protesters, and rightfully so,” she explained. “But this case is very, very interesting in that it focuses on the harms of these chemicals and how they’re now affecting entire communities.”
Residents of Gray’s Landing, including low-income veterans and those receiving Section 8 housing assistance, have discovered spent tear gas canisters on their balconies and in the building courtyard. Mindy King reports filming protests from her window and says federal agents have fired canisters in her direction. In October, Diane Moreno claims she was exposed to tear gas and shot with rubber bullets in the building driveway while returning home from work, leaving her with bruises.
Moreno now spends some nights sleeping in a bathtub with a towel under the door or in her car, parked away from the smoke. “The protesters have the choice. They have the choice to go out there and take that risk of being tear gassed or being pepper balled,” she said. “We don’t have the choice. We live here.”
Anna Griffin contributed reporting.