Oregon state police are blasting President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcers after local officers “suffered exposure” from tear gas outside a Portland ICE facility, with courtroom testimony describing federal tactics as “startling” and “indiscriminate.” The clash is now evidence in a federal trial over Trump’s move to deploy the National Guard to the city, a decision a judge already halted once as overreach.
The flashpoint came earlier this month during protests near ICE’s South Portland site. On the stand, Portland Police Bureau Commander Franz Schoening said federal agents repeatedly used tear gas and other munitions on largely nonviolent crowds, and at times hit city cops too. In one October 18 incident, a federal officer launched a munition that skipped into the facility’s roof position, triggering ICE officers up top to shoot pepper balls and gas back into the driveway, striking protesters and local police. “We didn’t see any violent conduct or behavior that would have precipitated that use of force,” Schoening testified.
Oregon State Police Captain Cameron Bailey echoed the alarm. In live updates from the courthouse, reporter Kate Riga relayed that Bailey testified his sergeant and other officers “suffered exposure” from tear gas after federal officers sprayed the protest, adding there was no warning for law enforcement on the ground. The account dovetails with the plaintiffs’ core claim, that federal officers endangered both cops and demonstrators with scattershot crowd control.
Judge Karin Immergut, who is presiding, signaled she will decide whether the government violated her temporary restraining order by allowing troops to move into Oregon despite her pause, and whether the conduct merits contempt. In a related proceeding, the court heard fresh evidence of federal officers firing pepper balls and chemical agents into mixed crowds, even as state rules limit tear gas to situations where a riot is declared. The hearings put the Justice Department on defense, as it tried to limit testimony that painted a picture of confusion and overreaction.
Reporters in the gallery noted a pattern. When a Portland commander described “indiscriminate” force, government lawyers jumped in with objections, only to be overruled so the testimony could continue. The judge allowed the narratives to proceed, keeping the focus on whether federal actions escalated tensions and whether the Guard was necessary at all.
The federal side insists aggressive measures were needed to protect personnel and secure the building, citing weeks of demonstrations around the ICE facility. But the record so far points to a grim irony: federal agents gassing their own, then spraying the surrounding area in a burst of friendly fire that swept up state cops and bystanders.
Trump has defended the muscle, claiming his “people” told him Portland was burning, and arguing that only a show of force could restore order. Oregon officials have said repeatedly that it is fiction, and that federal heavy-handedness made things worse, not better. As the shutdown drags on and Washington trades press releases, the facts on the ground are getting sorted the old-fashioned way, under oath, in a courtroom where state cops say the tear gas came from the feds, and the feds say they were only trying to help.
