Portland residents who live next door to a federal immigration facility say their homes have turned into a gas chamber.
And now they’re taking the Department of Homeland Security to court over it.
KATU News reporter Jennifer Singh says the owners of the Gray’s Landing apartments, along with nine residents, have filed a lawsuit against DHS and ICE, arguing that repeated use of tear gas and pepper balls outside their building is “poisoning” the people who live there.
These aren’t luxury lofts.
According to Singh, Gray’s Landing is a low-income complex run by the nonprofit REACH Community Development, housing more than 200 seniors, veterans, families, and people with disabilities.
That’s the group now saying enough is enough.
Tear Gas As A “Normal” Part Of Home Life
Singh reports that residents have been dealing with chemical exposure since June, whenever protests or enforcement actions break out near the Portland ICE facility across the street.
Some tenants told her they’ve had tear gas and other chemical agents fill their apartments multiple times.
To cope, Singh says residents have resorted to desperate DIY defenses.
They stuff towels under the door cracks.
They rely on air purifiers and extra filters.
Some even keep gas masks ready at a moment’s notice inside their own homes.
That detail alone says a lot.
When putting on a gas mask becomes as normal as grabbing a jacket, something is deeply broken in the way public safety is being handled.
“Truly Poison”: Attorney Describes Daily Exposure
Attorney Dan Jacobson, who is representing REACH and the nine tenants, did not sugarcoat what he believes is going on.
Speaking to Singh, Jacobson said he doesn’t think he has “ever encountered conduct that is so shocking” as what’s happening at Gray’s Landing.
He described the “daily repeated use of what is truly poison” right next to a large residential building where people live.
That word “daily” sticks.
This isn’t about one chaotic night during a protest years ago.
Residents and their landlord are alleging a pattern—a regular, ongoing use of chemical agents in an area where hundreds of people are just trying to eat dinner, watch TV, and put their kids to bed.
According to Singh’s report, the lawsuit doesn’t just complain about tear gas in the abstract.
It specifically seeks to stop federal agents from using chemical munitions across the street from Gray’s Landing and near the ICE facility when the fallout drifts directly into people’s homes.
Breathing Problems, Burning Eyes, And ER Visits
Jacobson told Singh his clients are reporting classic symptoms of chemical exposure.
He says residents have described difficulty breathing, coughing fits, burning throats, burning and watering eyes, and headaches after the tear gas and pepper balls are deployed.
For healthy, younger adults, that alone is bad enough.
But remember who lives at Gray’s Landing.
Low-income seniors.
People with disabilities.
Veterans with physical and psychological wounds.
If those reports are accurate, this isn’t just an annoyance.
It’s a serious public-health issue playing out in a building full of people who may be less able to escape, less able to relocate, and more medically fragile than the average Portland resident.
Singh notes that some residents have already moved out because of the repeated exposure.
Others, she reports, have sought medical help.
In a city that talks a lot about equity and housing stability, it’s hard not to notice that the people taking the brunt of this are exactly the kind of vulnerable tenants everyone claims to protect.
PTSD, Sirens, And Flashing Lights
The impact isn’t just physical.
Jacobson told Singh that the mental damage has been brutal for some residents—especially veterans with PTSD.
He says every time the gas is deployed and the chaos erupts outside, it triggers their trauma all over again.
Think about that scene: sirens, shouting, explosions from gas canisters, clouds of irritants rolling across the street and into open windows.
For someone already living with combat memories, that’s not just a nuisance.
That’s a psychological minefield.
Singh’s report makes clear that for these tenants, this isn’t some distant political debate about immigration, protests, or law-and-order talking points.
It’s happening right outside their building, often late at night, and then drifting inside.
In their telling, home – the place that’s supposed to be the safest—has become the front line.
“You Can’t Get Away From It”
One of the plaintiffs, Mindy King, told Singh just how close the tear gas has come.
King says she has livestreamed protests from her apartment and claims that the use of tear gas has often been “unprovoked and random.”
In one disturbing example, King says federal officers launched a tear-gas canister from the ICE facility toward her building.
According to her account, it landed directly underneath her deck.
From there, Singh reports, the gas seeped into multiple apartments at Gray’s Landing.
King told KATU that it doesn’t matter what residents are doing—eating dinner, cuddling with their pets, or falling asleep.
As she put it, “It’s tear gas. And you can’t get away from it.”
That line cuts through all the legal arguments.
Most people understand that if they go to a protest that turns chaotic, there’s a risk of getting caught in crowd-control tactics.
But King and her neighbors say they’re getting hit while simply existing in their homes.
If that’s accurate, it turns the usual “you were in the wrong place at the wrong time” argument on its head.
The “wrong place,” in their view, is their own living room.
Not A Total Ban – A Narrower Line
Singh notes that the federal government has repeatedly said that tear gas and similar tools are used to protect officers during protests and tense situations.
DHS has previously provided statements defending its practices when reporters asked about complaints over chemical weapons near the ICE site, she says.
But in this new lawsuit, Jacobson stresses that the plaintiffs are not asking the court to completely outlaw tear gas or pepper balls.
“We’re not asking the court to ban the use of these agents where it is truly necessary to protect somebody’s life,” he told Singh.
Instead, he says, they are asking a federal judge to draw a much narrower line.
The goal, according to Jacobson, is to limit the use of these chemical munitions in ways that needlessly contaminate a residential complex, not strip officers of every tool they might need in a truly life-threatening situation.
That’s an important distinction in this debate.
This lawsuit isn’t framed as a sweeping crusade to abolish tear gas nationwide.
It’s framed as a local community saying: use what you feel you must at your facility—but not in a way that keeps gassing our homes.
DHS Silent So Far
Singh reports that KATU reached out to DHS for comment after the lawsuit was filed on Friday, and again the following Monday.
As of her report, no response had been received.
She adds that DHS did send the station a statement last month addressing general complaints about tear-gas use near the ICE facility, and that statement is available through KATU’s platforms.
But on this specific legal challenge, the agency has stayed quiet so far.
That silence doesn’t mean the case is simple or one-sided.
Any court will have to weigh the government’s claimed need to maintain security at a federal facility against residents’ rights not to be repeatedly exposed to chemical agents in their own homes.
Still, from the outside, it is striking how often government agencies ask for deference on security while people living on the other side of the fence say they feel like collateral damage.
A Bigger Question About Where We Aim Force
Singh’s reporting out of Portland puts a local face on a bigger national question.
Where is the line between maintaining control during protests and spraying irritants so broadly that neighborhoods become unlivable?
If the accounts from Gray’s Landing are accurate, the people hitting that line first are not rioters or violent agitators.
They’re fixed-income seniors stuffing towels under their doors.
They’re veterans reliving old nightmares as flash-bangs echo outside.
They’re parents trying to keep kids calm while the air in their hallway burns their throats.
No matter where someone stands on immigration policy or protest tactics, it’s hard to argue that low-income tenants should regularly need gas masks inside government-subsidized housing.
That’s the core of what this lawsuit is saying.
And as Singh’s reporting makes clear, the residents of Gray’s Landing have decided they aren’t just going to complain to the news anymore.
They’re asking a federal judge to step in and, quite literally, clear the air.
Mark grew up in the heart of Texas, where tornadoes and extreme weather were a part of life. His early experiences sparked a fascination with emergency preparedness and homesteading. A father of three, Mark is dedicated to teaching families how to be self-sufficient, with a focus on food storage, DIY projects, and energy independence. His writing empowers everyday people to take small steps toward greater self-reliance without feeling overwhelmed.
