Judge bans ICE from firing tear gas in Portland after peaceful protesters — including children — were gassed

Tuesday’s order from District Judge Michael Simon came just days after federal officers deployed chemical agents and other riot control weapons during largely peaceful protests outside the city’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility, where children were seen coughing and flushing out their eyes with water after tear gas filled the streets.

The judge’s blistering order is among several recent decisions from federal courts across the country taking aim at ICE arrests and widespread protests against them as Donald Trump’s administration deploys thousands of officers to Democratic-led cities.

“In a well-functioning constitutional democratic republic, free speech, courageous newsgathering, and nonviolent protest are all permitted, respected, and even celebrated,” Judge Simon wrote at the top of his 22-page order. “In an authoritarian regime, that is not the case. Our nation is now at a crossroads.”

He added: “We have been here before and have previously returned to the right path, notwithstanding an occasional detour. In helping our nation find its constitutional compass, an impartial and independent judiciary operating under the rule of law has a responsibility that it may not shirk.”

The judge’s order blocks officers from using chemical agents and other projectiles for at least 14 days “at or in the vicinity of” the ICE office in Portland’s South Waterfront neighborhood, which has been a focal point of outrage against the Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts.

Protests have exploded after federal officers fatally shot Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis this month..

Simon’s order also bars officers from targeting anyone’s head, neck or torso, “unless the officer is legally justified in using deadly force against that person.”

The order cites several instances in which demonstrators have faced violent force from federal officers near the building, including against 84-year-old Laurie Eckman, who was hit in the head with a “chemical impact munition” while holding a sign. “She walked home soaked in blood” and was later treated in an emergency room for a concussion, the judge wrote.

An officer also fired at her husband, 83-year-old Richard Eckman, who was using a walker, according to the judge.

Jack Dickinson — the lead plaintiff known as the “Portland Chicken” after regularly attending protests in a yellow-fleece chicken costume with an American flag draped over his shoulders like a cape — was shoved by an officer with so much force that he “stumbled approximately 15 to 20 feet through the street,” the judge wrote.

At another demonstration, while sitting “silently” on the edge of a driveway near a gate to the building, officers “fired a barrage of pepper balls” and pepper sprayed him in the face, the judge wrote.

The judge also noted several incidents targeting journalists, including a filmmaker who was shot in the groin and maced in the face.

A photographer who was documenting officers firing tear gas into a crowd of dancing protesters when he was shoved by an agent several times, and an officer hit his camera “until it stopped working.” An officer then hit him with pepper balls approximately 20 times, according to court filings.

“These occurrences are not infrequent,” Judge Simon wrote. “Indeed, they are escalating.”

As demonstrators across the country marched in protest of the Trump administration’s anti-immigration surge January 31, protesters converged near the ICE facility in Portland, where federal agents fired tear gas, pepper balls, rubber bullets, and flash-bang grenades after some demonstrators approached the security gate, according to The Oregonian.

Footage from the scene obtained by The Oregonian shows a young girl in tears with her scooter and hand-drawn sign as a demonstrator flushes out her eyes with a water bottle.

“Federal agents at the ICE facility tear gassed children,” according to Portland City Councilor Mitch Green. “We must abolish ICE, DHS, and we must have prosecutions. I expect to see enforcement of our city code prohibiting the use of tear gas.”

Shortly after officers fired tear gas into the crowd, one demonstrator noticed a man trying to rinse out his child’s eyes, according to The Handbasket, which interviewed several protesters at the scene.

“The kid’s eyes were red and they were blubbering, not screaming, crying out or talking,” he told the outlet. “The parent was flushing the kid’s eyes out and wiping their face, people were offering them water. Multiple medics were checking in on them.”

Other children were “coughing and gasping for air,” another protester told the outlet. “Kids were screaming. Everyone stayed calm enough so there wasn't a stampede or any trampling, which I was very afraid of because people were so desperate for air. It was horrible.”

Portland Keith Wilson called on ICE officers to “resign” in a statement condemning the “heavy waves of chemical munitions” fired on the crowd where “the vast majority of those present violated no laws, made no threat, and posed no danger to federal forces.”

“Our nation will never accept a federal presence where agents wield deadly force against the very people they are sworn to serve,” he said.

In a statement after the protests, Homeland Security assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin blamed the volatile scene on protesters and local authorities “who fail to maintain law and order on their streets,” saying that the fact “this particular location is experiencing this behavior more frequently than most others” and “is not remotely ICE’s fault.”