PORTLAND, Ore. (CN) - Federal agents at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in Portland can no longer deploy tear gas, pepper balls and other chemical munitions in a way that would send the chemicals into the homes of residents at a nearby low-income housing complex, a federal judge ruled on Friday.
After reviewing hundreds of pages of reports documenting federal agents' use of force over the past eight months, U.S. District Judge Amy Baggio found that they acted with deliberate indifference.
"And what is notably absent is adequate justification for well-documented incidents of large-scale deployments of chemical munitions down the street from the Portland ICE Facility, immediately outside Gray's Landing," Baggio wrote in a 57-page opinion.
Gray's Landing is a 209-unit affordable housing complex across the street from an ICE facility in southwest Portland. Tenants include young families, domestic violence survivors, veterans, retirees and people with disabilities.
Protests of varying size and intensity have continued near the ICE building since June. In December, nine Gray's Landing residents joined forces with the building's management companies in suing the federal government over the chemical deployments.
The plaintiffs accuse federal agents of intentionally and repeatedly deploying chemical munitions near the apartment complex, violating residents' right to bodily integrity by exposing them to toxic airborne substances.
At a February evidentiary hearing, Baggio heard from residents who said they took extreme steps to avoid tear gas exposure in their homes, including wearing gas masks to bed or sleeping in closets or bathrooms. Some reported repeated doctor visits for new or worsening conditions such as chest pain, respiratory distress and panic attacks.
In some instances, the court said, federal agents deployed such large amounts of chemical munitions that gas clouds enveloped the apartment complex and continued even after agents were told the chemicals were entering the building.
"The court recognizes a preliminary injunction is an extraordinary remedy, but this is an extraordinary case," Baggio, a Joe Biden appointee, wrote.
Baggio found the federal defendants - including ICE and the Department of Homeland Security - disregarded the known or obvious consequences of their actions.
The government argued the chemical munitions were necessary to respond to unlawful activity by some protesters at the ICE facility. But Baggio said the use of "such copious amounts of chemical munitions" exceeded what was justified.
"Do defendants have the power to do their jobs and protect themselves and their property in the process? Undoubtedly yes," Baggio wrote. "Is there some limit to defendants' use of force when it involves deployment after deployment of large clouds of chemical munitions that enter and saturate the homes of the resident plaintiffs, irreparably harming their health in the process? The court finds the Constitution answers this question in the affirmative as well."
Baggio found the residents were likely to continue to be harmed by the chemical exposure unless the court took action.
"Defendants have not conveyed any intent to change their practices regarding the use of chemical munitions at the Portland ICE facility absent court intervention," Baggio wrote. "Defendants have asserted in this proceeding that their use of chemical munitions was appropriate."
The order bars defendants from "using chemical munitions in quantities such that the aerosolized chemicals discharged from said munitions are likely to reach Gray's Landing - including the resident plaintiffs' individual apartments."
The plaintiffs welcomed the ruling. In a statement, Margaret Salazar, CEO of REACH Community Development, which owns and operates Gray's Landing, said the order affirms the harm residents suffered.
'Today's decision acknowledges that impact and reinforces that government action must respect clear constitutional limits when it reaches into residential communities," Salazar said. "This is an important step toward accountability and the protection of residents' rights in their homes."
Katie Schwartzmann, special counsel at Protect Democracy, described the ruling as a fierce rebuke of a federal agency that "believes it can wage war on American neighborhoods with impunity."
"From Los Angeles to Chicago to Minnesota, and in Portland too, we have witnessed a coordinated campaign by DHS to sow chaos and terrorize communities - citizens and non-citizens alike - under the guise of immigration enforcement," Schwartzmann said. "This court has now affirmed what we have long argued: the government cannot knowingly poison families in their own homes."
The federal defendants did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
Source: Courthouse News Service
