For the second time in a week, the Trump administration is appealing a decision by a federal judge in Oregon limiting the use of crowd control weapons outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Portland.
Thick clouds of tear gas, deployed by federal immigration officers, fill the air hundreds of protesters, including children and elderly people, try to escape outside of the ICE building in Portland, Jan. 31, 2026.
Eli Imadali / OPB
On Monday, the Justice Department appealed a decision from U.S. District Court Judge Amy Baggio that restricts the use of tear gas and other chemical munitions at the Portland ICE facility. Baggio’s order sided with residents of an apartment complex across the street from the building, who sued, arguing the clouds of tear gas fired by federal officers regularly consumed their homes, violating their constitutional rights.
In their appeal, the Trump administration also asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit to immediately block her order.
Then Tuesday, the Trump administration announced it was also appealing last week’s decision by U.S. District Court Judge Michael Simon, which found that Department of Homeland Security officers had an unwritten policy to use excessive force on nonviolent protesters, in part to chill their free speech rights.
Like Baggio’s order, Simon’s preliminary injunction drastically limits force directly outside the ICE building, but still allows federal officers to use crowd control measures when there’s an imminent and specific threat of physical harm to officers or another person. Simon’s ruling also grants preliminary class certification, meaning the decision applies to all nonviolent protesters and journalists outside the Portland ICE facility.
While the cases involve different legal protections outlined in the U.S. Constitution, their effect is largely the same, making the area outside the Portland ICE building a highly litigated, deeply contested intersection.
Demonstrators are represented in the case by a coalition of attorneys lead by the ACLU of Oregon.
“We look forward to continuing to advocate for protesters and press in Oregon to be free to exercise their First Amendment rights without fear of government retaliation and violence,” the nonprofit’s legal director Kelly Simon said in a statement Tuesday.
This story may be updated.
