Diane Moreno was walking home in late January when she said she was struck five times by rubber bullets fired by federal agents, leaving welts and bruises across her body.
It was still daylight when she alleges she was caught in the crossfire as the agents tried to disperse a protest at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility across the street from her Portland, Oregon, apartment.
It has become a months-long problem for her and other tenants at Gray’s Landing, an affordable housing complex that sits about 100 feet from an ICE field office, residents said Friday in court declarations to bolster a lawsuit filed by the apartment’s managers against the Department of Homeland Security.
The ICE office in Portland’s South Waterfront neighborhood has become a focal point for protests against President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, with the latest demonstrations sparked by outrage over the killings in Minneapolis of Renée Good and Alex Pretti.
Others in Gray’s Landing have slept wearing gas masks or in their bathtubs to escape tear gas that wafts into their homes, they alleged in court declarations. Janice Lineberger, whose balcony faces the ICE facility, said she struggles to breathe in her living room and that her voice is now gravelly, “as if I was a chain smoker.”
In a statement Sunday, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin blamed the disruptions on “rioters” who have set off fireworks, thrown objects and ignored federal agents’ commands.
“The fact that this particular location is experiencing this behavior more frequently than most others, is not remotely ICE’s fault,” McLaughlin said. “That lies squarely with the rioters and with the state and local authorities who fail to maintain law and order on their streets.”
The property management company that runs Gray’s Landing and a group of residents initially filed the lawsuit in December. Their complaint alleges that the federal agents’ conduct has been excessive.
The Justice Department has previously said protests outside the Portland ICE facility amounted to a “dangerous risk of rebellion”as it argued for Trump to deploy the National Guard to Oregon.
Some protesters have faced charges for assaulting federal officers near the facility, but a federal judge in November rejected the Trump administration’s characterization of the protests as lawless. U.S. District Judge Karin J. Immergut said the gatherings had been “predominantly peaceful,” and she barred the National Guard deployment.
Demonstrations in front of the facility have continued, and the disruption from both protesters and federal agents has drawn criticism. Residents have complained that the protests violate noise ordinances, FOX 12 reported. And a charter school permanently relocated from its location neighboring the ICE facility last summer after condemning federal agents’ use of tear gas near the school.
Alongside the declarations filed Friday, the Gray’s Landing residents asked U.S. District Judge Amy M. Baggio for a preliminary injunction to bar federal agents from deploying tear gas “likely to infiltrate” the apartment building, except when the lives of federal officers are threatened.
Nine Gray’s Landing residents said the federal agents’ actions have appeared disproportionate and have for months made life in the apartment building, which sits kitty-corner from the ICE facility, unbearable.
Moreno said the January incident was the second time she had been struck by rubber bullets from federal agents while walking near the apartment; she had previously been shot in October and tear-gassed, which caused her to vomit in the street. She now fears getting gassed again as she recovers from an upcoming surgery.
“I truly don’t know how I’ll survive if they continue to be so out of control right outside my door,” Moreno said.
Mindy King said she bought gas masks for herself and her 13-year-old son to wear at home. King alleged that a federal agent appeared to target her in October by firing a tear-gas canister toward her apartment as she live-streamed footage of a protest from her balcony, which faces the ICE facility.
Whitfield Taylor, whose apartment is on the corner of the complex closest to the ICE facility, said his children, ages 7 and 9, have missed school and gone to urgent care for treatment after inhaling tear gas.
“Sometimes when federal officers are using gas and flash-bangs, my children hide in the closet of my bedroom and build a fort there, to feel some sense of safety,” Taylor said in a court filing.
On Saturday, the street by Gray’s Landing was roiled again after thousands of protesters marched to the ICE facility. Within minutes, federal agents deployed tear gas, rubber bullets and flash-bangs to disperse the crowd, the Oregonian reported.
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