Share and Follow
On Monday, a federal judge in Oregon imposed new restrictions on the use of tear gas and other crowd-control weapons by federal agents during protests at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Portland. This decision marks a significant development in the ongoing debate over law enforcement tactics in managing public demonstrations.
U.S. District Judge Michael Simon delivered a preliminary injunction following a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon. Representing protesters and freelance journalists, the lawsuit targets the Department of Homeland Security, claiming that the use of chemical munitions by officers constitutes a form of retaliation that infringes on First Amendment rights.
The ruling was preceded by a three-day hearing where various plaintiffs, including a protester known for donning a chicken costume, an elderly couple in their 80s, and two freelance journalists, provided testimony. They recounted incidents where federal officers allegedly deployed chemical sprays and projectile munitions against them.
In his written opinion, Judge Simon referenced video evidence presented in court, which showed officers using OC spray directly on protesters practicing passive resistance, alongside the deployment of tear gas and pepper-ball rounds into assembled crowds.
On January 31, 2026, federal agents were observed using tear gas and flash bangs against protesters gathered outside the ICE building in Portland, Oregon. This incident, captured in images by Allison Barr for The Oregonian, underscores the ongoing tension between law enforcement and demonstrators advocating for their rights.
“Plaintiffs provided numerous videos, which were received in evidence and unambiguously show DHS officers spraying OC Spray directly into the faces of peaceful and nonviolent protesters engaged in, at most, passive resistance and discharging tear gas and firing pepper-ball munitions into crowds of peaceful and nonviolent protestors,” Simon wrote.
“Defendants’ conduct — physically harming protestors and journalists without prior dispersal warnings — is objectively chilling.”
The Department of Homeland Security has previously said that the agents have “followed their training and used the minimum amount of force necessary to protect themselves, the public, and federal property.”
A federal judge also ruled to restrict agents’ use of tear gas in a separate case brought by the residents of an affordable housing complex across the street from the ICE building.
This comes amid demonstrations across the country against President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda.
In his ruling, Simon barred agents from using chemical or projectile munitions such as pepper balls and tear gas unless someone poses an imminent threat of physical harm. He also instructed agents not to fire munitions at the head, neck or torso “unless the officer is legally justified in using deadly force against that person.”
Jack Dickinson, dressed in a chicken costume, looks to other protesters outside a United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Portland, Oregon, Monday, Oct. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)
Agents are also prohibited from the use of pepper spray against a group in an indiscriminate way that would affect bystanders. Additionally, they must only target people who are engaging in violent unlawful conduct or actively resisting arrest, or use it “as reasonably necessary in a defensive capacity.”
Simon said that trespassing, refusing to move and refusing to obey an order to disperse are acts of passive resistance, not active resistance.
The judge also granted provisional class certification, which means his order covers a broader group of all people who have peacefully protested or reported on demonstrations at the ICE building in recent months.
The preliminary injunction will remain in place while the lawsuit proceeds.
Last month, Portland Mayor Keith Wilson called on ICE to leave the city after federal officers deployed tear gas at a crowd of demonstrators outside the agency’s building. The mayor described the protests as peaceful and criticized federal officers’ use of pepper balls, flash-bang grenades and rubber bullets.
Law enforcement officers look out from an ICE facility on Oct. 21, 2025, in Portland, Oregon. (Jenny Kane/AP)
“Federal forces deployed heavy waves of chemical munitions, impacting a peaceful daytime protest where the vast majority of those present violated no laws, made no threat, and posed no danger to federal forces,” he said in a statement at the time.
“To those who continue to work for ICE: Resign. To those who control this facility: Leave,” he said, accusing federal officials of “trampling the Constitution.”