Oregon residents sue Homeland Security after tear gas used on anti-ICE protesters
An affordable housing nonprofit and group of nearby residents filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), asking the court to "preclude" the agency from deploying tear gas...
By Fox News · Fox News
An affordable housing nonprofit and group of nearby residents filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), asking the court to "preclude" the agency from deploying tear gas and chemical or smoke-related munitions that were affecting nearby homes in Oregon. The suit comes amid months of clashes between DHS agents and anti-immigration-enforcement groups, including Antifa, outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility near Interstate 5, where illegal immigrants have been detained and processed. The Gray’s Landing houses involved in the suit — which was brought by REACH Community Development and supported by the progressive groups Democracy Forward and Protect Democracy — lies kitty-corner to the ICE facility on the Willamette River. DHS SHARES 'VIDEO EVIDENCE' TO JUSTIFY BORDER PATROL'S TEAR GAS USE DURING CHAOTIC CHICAGO IMMIGRATION RAID In the filing, the plaintiffs called DHS’ actions "shocking" and asked the court to ban immigration enforcement agents from using chlorobenzalmalononitrile ( CS gas/"tear gas") and other crowd control tools "unless the use of such munitions is necessary to protect against an imminent and concrete threat to the lives of federal officers or other persons." The suit claims officers have deployed pepper balls, CS gas and the like "toward and around" the low-income housing complex "repeatedly when faced with no violence from protesters or imminent risk of harm." The nearby residents claimed to have suffered acute respiratory distress, ocular burning sensations and post-traumatic stress disorder episodes due to ICE’s forceful enforcement strategies . ICE ACCUSES DEM LAWMAKER OF JOINING 'RIOTING CROWD' IN ARIZONA, INTERFERING IN MASS ARREST "The government causing poisonous gas and chemicals to enter plaintiffs’ bodies violates their right to bodily integrity, which the Supreme Court has long recognized as a component of the right to liberty," the suit claimed. REACH CEO Margaret Salazar said that as a…