by Shaanth Nanguneri, Oregon Capital Chronicle
February 13, 2026
PORTLAND— A federal judge on Friday sharply questioned a federal attorney over inconsistent reports regarding the use of less-lethal munitions outside the Portland Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility, as well the integration of social media influencers in operations at the site.
The hearing came in response to a December lawsuit from residents and the affordable housing nonprofit that operates the apartment complex across the street from the facility. Residents and Reach Community Development are seeking a preliminary injunction from U.S. District Judge Amy M. Baggio that would bar federal agents from deploying tear gas and chemical munitions likely to infiltrate the complex unless necessary to protect against an “imminent and concrete threat” to the lives of law enforcement and the public.
Residents allege they have been persistent exposure to munitions such as tear gas, pepper balls and smoke grenades traumatized them and induced wheezing, migraines and hives. Some reported sleeping in their bathtubs, needing to undergo surgery and putting on gas masks when they go to bed.
“Our federal government is knowingly putting them through hell and for no good reason at all,” attorney Daniel Jacobson told the court. “The government, they’re not gonna stop on their own accord… only the courts can stop them.”
Baggio, a Biden appointee on Friday asked U.S. Department of Justice attorneys to provide documents from ICE and the Federal Protective Service on their policies regarding use of force. She questioned whether she had all of the use of force incidents from officers relevant to the case, and requested information about policies relating to the embedding of civilians. That was a reference to social media evidence from the lawsuit alleging the federal government gave right-wing influencers access to the ICE facility to create dramatized videos for “propaganda” and amplification.
“This is a big record, they’re nuanced legal issues,” Baggio said on Friday. “I want everybody to have the benefit to be able to do the work they need to do.”
She also took issue with arguments the Justice Department submitted suggesting that 35-40 protesters were warned to stop trespassing during a July 2025 incident at the facility. In fact, as Baggio found in another report submitted to the court, only five of the 35-40 protesters had stepped onto federal property, and the federal government deployed an unknown number of projectiles.
Samuel Holt, a trial attorney with the Justice Department, acknowledged the error.
“I think that you’re right, approximately five were standing on federal property,” he said. “I apologize for that to the extent that was not accurate.”
The back-and-forth capped arguments and testimony Baggio heard during an evidentiary hearing Friday. She asked federal attorneys to provide more documents, with oral arguments set for Wednesday.
Friday’s hearing followed another court order barring the use of munitions in a separate case where freelance journalists and protesters in November alleged excessive use of force against crowds outside the Portland ICE facility. U.S. District Judge Michael H. Simon on Feb. 3 issued a temporary, 14-day restraining order preventing federal officers from using less-lethal munitions and chemicals against protesters without an imminent threat of physical harm. It came after agents on Jan. 31 flooded the streets with tear gas against a crowd of nonviolent protesters that included children, seniors and pets.
Since last summer, the Portland ICE facility has been the site of largely peaceful protests by demonstrators advocating against the enforcement operations of federal immigration agents. Though protest activity died down afterwards, they reignited in the fall after President Donald Trump’s attempted deployment of the National Guard to Portland and again after federal agents killed two U.S. citizens in Minnesota in January.
A few apartment residents were present in the courtroom on Friday, with some shedding tears or shaking and nodding their heads. The suit alleges that federal agents’ conduct has violated their constitutional rights to bodily integrity, personal security and the safe use of their homes. Multiple residents testified that they were caught off-guard by the use of the gas, describing it as debilitating and without any justification. The plaintiffs also called upon an expert in medical toxicology who attributed their symptoms to tear gas exposure.
“Sometimes they would have loud speakers that would go off constantly at night, but they would just be saying that there could be harm of them releasing tear gas,” said Erica del Nigro, a resident with an autoimmune condition who lives in the complex with her 12-year old son. “But we would never stay outside if we heard those speakers going off. That usually happened after they would initially tear gas.”
Federal attorneys in court on Friday and in court filings argued that the residents were subject to the incidental effects of lawfully-deployed crowd control measures, lacked standing and relied upon a “novel” theory of due process. Attorney Michael Bruns pointed to plaintiffs’ distance from the events on the ground in front of the ICE facility when they were in their apartments when questioning their ability to assess a crowd or officer’s perspective.
Holt told the court that the conduct of law enforcement “does not even come close to shocking the conscience.” Another attorney with the Justice Department, Kathleen Jacobs, confirmed with residents who testified that they did not submit medical records as evidence in the lawsuit.
“You could agree with me that you do not know necessarily the reason why a law enforcement officer would be utilizing various munitions in response to unlawful conduct?” Jacobs asked one resident.
Del Nigro testified that she doesn’t feel like leaving the house, having hobbies or going out because she is unsure of whether she would be exposed “to anything beforehand.” Parenting her 12-year old has become difficult and she is no longer able to easily volunteer, she said. They sleep with the television “on loud” and her son has suffered panic attacks and nightmares, as well as tightness in his chest and asthmatic attacks if he tries to walk to school a few blocks away from the ICE facility.
She told the court that she found the protests outside the facility to be “like a big happy festival,” and that she used to enjoy hanging out at their complex.
“A lot of kids would play out there. There’s things for the kids to play on, it was just a great place to hang out and meet neighbors and barbecue,” she said of the complex. “After the tear gassing, it became a really frightening place to be.”
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