Overview
- U.S. District Judge Michael H. Simon issued a preliminary injunction barring federal officers from using tear gas and other chemical or projectile munitions unless a person poses an imminent threat of physical harm.
- The order prohibits firing munitions at a person’s head, neck or torso unless deadly force would be legally justified.
- Trespassing, refusing to move and ignoring a dispersal order are deemed passive resistance and cannot justify indiscriminate chemical use against crowds or bystanders.
- Simon granted provisional class certification, extending the injunction’s protections to all who have peacefully protested or reported at the Portland ICE building.
- A separate order by U.S. District Judge Amy M. Baggio restricts deployments that could allow chemical agents to seep into the adjacent Gray’s Landing housing complex unless there is an imminent threat to life, as the government continues to defend its tactics while the cases proceed.