ICE Beat Hates Tear Gas
On February 25, the Portland organization 350PDX hosted a community action night in their headquarters on Mississippi Avenue in North Portland. The building coexists with the lively restaurant scene lining the street and with The Rebuild Center, a warehouse for repurposed home-renovation materials. The objective of the night was to inform the audience about the dangers of irritant gas.
When the meeting began at around 6:30pm, the organizers shared the short film Gas Me, Teddy, made in 2020. The film was created after protests arose following the murder of George Floyd, when Portlanders took to the streets in solidarity with the Minneapolis community. Following the perspective of different interviewees, the film documented the consequences of the excessive use of teargas on protestors during the movement.
The panel began with City Councilor Sameer Kanal introducing legislation he is presenting to the city council, including a bill on masking identification and a citywide ban on tear gas. “When you use tear gas,” said Kanal, “it’s going to affect the kids down on the block, it's going to affect the school, it's going to affect people through strong water run off.” Kanal stated that there was no good use of tear gas, and that “it doesn't have to be like this. So, because it's a lot simpler, we’re just going to ban it. That's the goal.”
Kanal then called out to the crowd, asking for community support for the bill. In preparation for when it reaches the Public Safety committee later this year, Kanal asked the crowd to testify, “even if you feel like you don't have a story to tell, please show up. I notice when the room’s packed, I know my colleagues do too.”
Next, the environmental attorney Brenna Bell spoke. She recounted her experience of getting “tear gassed by a tree” in 2020 when the residual irritant gas on a tree near the justice center blew into her face. She then considered the environmental and human health impacts of irritant gas. Bell stated that in 2020, the Department of Homeland Security was not adhering to regulations placed by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Despite environmental deregulation, the impacts of irritant gases are real. Irritant gas not only damages nearby wildlife, but also water systems. “Because of all this runoff, where was it going? Straight into the river?” Bell asked. “Both the courthouse and especially the ICE facility are very, very close to the river.”
Outside of environmental impact, irritant gases harm both humans and animals. “Tear gas is one big cricket pesticide, and we are the pests, right?” Bell noted that chemical munitions can have a wide variety of side effects on the human body. “There are so many physical impacts that people have experienced,” Bell stated. “There's cancer, organ damage, skin damage, menstrual damage.”
Although the 2020 case was dismissed, people like City Councilor Kanal are working hard to ban the use of irritant gas. “I am so grateful that the city is finally working with this and taking it seriously,” Bell said. “It's about time that the city of Portland stopped poisoning its residents, and exercises whatever force it can to keep the federal government from doing it too.”
Next to speak was Sandy Chung, the executive director of the Oregon American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). She noted that although we have seen politicians give in to Trump and big law firms refuse to oppose him, “the people who had the most courage were everyday people.” She brought up the civil lawsuit Dickinson (a.k.a. “the Portland Chicken”) v. Trump filed in November, which led to a temporary restraining order against chemical munitions as crowd control.
Although the temporary restraining order is a good start, “the point of this case is to have a permanent injunction,” stated Chung. “Which is an order to the federal government saying, ‘you can't use tear gas and other weapons against protestors.’”
Chung's next talking point was House Bill 2928, which stated that a law enforcement agency may not use chemical incapacitants or kinetic impact projectiles for crowd control, except when individuals are engaged in deadly force against a peace officer. The bill was passed in the summer of 2021, but was then rolled back less than a year later in the spring of 2022. House Bill 4008 altered the ban, stating that a law enforcement agency may not use chemical incapacitants or kinetic projectiles for crowd control unless the force is “objectively reasonable.”
The reasoning behind this rollback, according to Chung, was that due to the presence of armed far-right groups like the Proud Boys, “lawmakers said that the Portland police need to use tear gas against the far-right.” Chung argued that chemical incapacitants are rarely used to disperse these types of gatherings, and instead “are always used against environmental activists, and people of color leading civil rights movements.”
A pulmonary care physician, Erika Moseson, spoke about the dangers of inhaling irritant gas. “I mean, we really don’t know,” said Mosesan. “But what we do have is pretty concerning.” She noted that exposure to irritant gas can cause severe respiratory issues such as bronchitis and pneumonia. Outside of these issues, irritant gas can “cause changes in the immune system in the lungs.”
Lastly, an EMT and volunteer protest medic spoke on ways to protect yourself from irritant gas during exposure. Firstly, he urged protestors to protect their lungs: mask up and do not smoke. He then stressed the importance of cold showers after exposure, “if you go home and take a hot shower, all of your pores open up, and now you have tear gas paste inside your skin.”
Another tip was to cover all visible skin and make sure to wash your clothes twice. He also debunked the idea that milk is ideal for washing out gassed eyes, as room temperature milk can cause eye infections. He stated that water and the military decontamination wipes Sudecon are best at removing irritant gas from the skin and eyes.
His final point was an emphasis on the importance of self-preservation. “Don’t make another patient. I can't help other people if I need help, right?” he said. “There's nothing wrong with saying ‘this has become too dangerous for me.’ Keep yourself safe.”
Corrections on the Previous Issue:
“PP&D spokesperson Elliott Kozuch stated, ‘Records indicate that detainees were held beyond the facility's 12-hour limit or kept overnight 25 times between October 1, 2024, and July 27, 2025.’”
Elliott Kozuch is not a City Official or spokesperson for PP&D, but is a public servant to the city and a communications manager for the Community and Economic Development service area.
The statement was wrongly attributed to a question regarding the administrative review. Rather, this was information on what led to the original Zoning Violation. This information was provided by Kozuch from the PP&D website and was not a statement directly made by Kozuch. Kozuch is not a lawyer and therefore is unauthorized to make such a legal comment.