Federal agents have deployed so much tear gas near Mindy King’s apartment in Portland, Oregon, that she and her 13-year-old son resorted to wearing gas masks indoors. Her neighbor, Diane Moreno, has made two urgent care visits, experiencing chest tightness and bloody nasal discharge. They point to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office, located less than 100 feet from their homes, as the source of their distress.
For months, ICE agents have intermittently used tear gas against protesters outside the facility, and residents like Ms. King fear that this repeated chemical exposure poses a grave threat to their health.
Now, Ms. King and other residents of their affordable housing complex, Gray’s Landing, are suing the Trump administration. Their unique lawsuit claims that the U.S. government is intentionally releasing a poison gas into its citizens’ homes. They assert that these chemicals embed themselves in walls, carpets, clothing, furniture, and even children’s toys, creating a hazardous environment.
An October incident outside an ICE facility in Portland, Oregon. Residents across the street have sued over the use of tear gas.
Legal experts describe this case as unprecedented due to its focus on the public health and environmental damage caused by tear gas, moving beyond typical arguments of civil rights or police misconduct.
The lawsuit further alleges that federal agents sometimes deployed chemical munitions not for crowd control, but to generate sensational visuals for conservative media influencers present at the facility. A hearing for the case, which seeks an injunction to halt further use of the chemicals, 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 Ms. King, a single mother of two, whose apartment offers a direct view of the ICE facility. “There’s no sense of security. This isn’t home anymore.”
Mindy King and her dog, Jasper, at home, which is an apartment across the street from the ICE facility.
Experts say this case highlights the severe impact of the federal immigration crackdown seen in cities across the United States.
It also emphasizes that tear gas, while banned internationally for use in warfare and still employed in domestic policing, is an “indiscriminate weapon and a respiratory hazard, period,” according to Dr. Anthony M. Szema, a clinical professor of medicine at Hofstra/Northwell and chair of the Section on Terrorism and Inhalation Disasters at the American Thoracic Society.
“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.”
Tricia McLaughlin, Assistant Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, stated that federal agents were “authorized to do what is appropriate and necessary in each situation to diffuse violence against our officers.”
The lawsuit names the Department of Homeland Security, its secretary Kristi Noem, and related agencies.
McLaughlin maintained 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 blocked the deployment of the National Guard to the city.)
Tear gas is designed for short-term use, not prolonged exposure over weeks or months. Its purpose is to temporarily incapacitate individuals without causing permanent harm.
A January clash with the Gray’s Landing apartment building visible to the left. An October protest at the ICE facility.
Despite its intended temporary effects, mounting research indicates that the intense irritation to eyes, skin, nose, throat, and lungs caused by tear gas exposure isn’t always fleeting. Dr. Rohini Haar, an emergency physician at Kaiser Medical Center in Oakland, California, notes increasing evidence that tear gas can cause long-term skin and lung damage, aggravate asthma, lead to infections like bronchitis and pneumonia, and in some cases, result in blindness. “These chemical irritants can injure so many different parts of your body,” she stated.
The roots of tear gas use in Portland trace back to 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 unnecessarily used tear gas against mostly nonviolent protests, sometimes specifically to benefit media influencers filming at the site. One incident cited is from October 4th, where a small group of protesters at the ICE facility were hit by tear gas and smoke grenades, with military helicopters hovering overhead, while influencers created videos.
Ben Bergquam, a prominent right-wing media personality, later shared a video with the bold caption “Happening now at the Portland ICE facility! Multiple arrests, tear gas and the fight to save our country!”
Demonstrators and agents outside the building on Oct. 25.
The White House later utilized bold scenes of tear gas and smoke in a video montage, with the Gray’s Landing building visible through the haze in the background.
Days later, Mr. Trump hosted several of these media figures at the White House for a presidential round table.
The White House referred comments to the Department of Homeland Security.
Tear gas is not a true gas, but a powder mixed with solvents and propellants, some of which can also be toxic.
Dr. Haar, who is also a medical adviser to Physicians for Human Rights, emphasizes that the health effects of exposure are particularly dangerous for children, seniors, and individuals with pre-existing conditions.
Recent studies have also highlighted previously underreported risks tear gas poses to reproductive health. However, Dr. Haar notes significant gaps in research, particularly regarding its long-term effects.
Once released, tear gas can linger in the environment long after the visible fog dissipates. Following days of tear gas use by Hong Kong police against anti-government protesters in 2019, several schools had to suspend classes 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.
Air cleaners have been installed in Gray’s Landing, as well as sticky pads at entrances, to keep the building clear of tear gas materials.
Measuring how far tear gas travels or how easily it enters nearby buildings remains challenging. Forensic Architecture, a research agency in London, investigated tear gas use by Portland police during a 2020 Black Lives Matter protest, finding it likely spread at least a half-mile. In some areas, airborne concentrations exceeded federally recognized safety limits by over 800 times.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s 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.” The center does not offer guidance for situations where tear gas is also being used outside.
The chemical industry first developed “harassing agents,” primarily a compound called CN, during World War I. Since then, CS, considered more potent yet less toxic, has become the most commonly used agent.
Although international law bans tear gas in warfare, the United States and other nations have successfully lobbied for an exception for domestic policing.
Diane Moreno, a resident of Gray’s Landing, said she was shot with rubber bullets one evening returning home from work.
Karen Pita Loor, a clinical professor of law at Boston University School of Law and an expert on protest-related issues, described the case as “a sign of the times.”
“We’ve been talking a lot about the protesters, and rightfully so,” she said. “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, a community housing low-income veterans and Section 8 recipients, have reported finding spent tear gas canisters on their balconies and in the building courtyard. Ms. King stated she now films protests from her window and federal agents have fired canisters in her direction. In October, Ms. Moreno was exposed to tear gas and struck by rubber bullets in the building driveway while returning home from work, leaving her with bruises.
Ms. Moreno now spends some nights sleeping in a bathtub with a towel under her bathroom door or in her car, 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.