US: Police criticizes ‘excessive and disproportionate' force used by ICE on protesters

A US police supervisor has criticized the brutality of tear gas tactics used by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers against protesters as "excessive and disproportionate".

The Portland police chief voiced concern about the tear gas and other poisonous weapons used on protesters could cause health problems to local police and the demonstrators.

Portland police Cmdr. Craig Dobson said in a new sworn court statement run by US media this week that the ICE officers deployed tear gas in a clear overreaction at a recent protest outside the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Portland, endangering demonstrators as well as police at the scene.

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Dobson said the tear gas use was “excessive and disproportionate to the threat posed” on Jan. 31 during a labor-organized march that drew thousands to the city streets and ended outside the ICE building south of downtown.

He was the incident commander during the anti-ICE march.

He testified that ICE federal officers fired tear gas after about 30 to 50 people dressed in black were by the gate of their building, with some apparently trying to tie it closed with a rope while others were banging on plywood on the building, Dobson said in his court declaration.

Dobson said the Trump administration’s response “lacked awareness” of the totality of circumstances, noting the gas affected hundreds of peaceful protesters who were not on federal property.

The Police Bureau’s Rapid Response Team chief described the ongoing crowd control responses by ICE as “unpredictable" to both the crowd and the local police.

Cmdr. Franz Schoening testified that ICE tactics put local police "officers at a safety risk themselves and forces them to pull back from their positions within the crowd.”

Oregon State Police Capt. Cameron Bailey, who oversees the agency’s crowd control teams, said his forces never heard federal officers issue any warnings before firing pepper balls.

Bailey said he viewed a live feed and heard reports from his troopers during a protest on Oct. 18, indicating the tear gas launched by federal officers came without any audible announcements and without any objectively dangerous situation. He added in a sworn testimony that covering the area with gas had temporarily forced the state troopers to leave their posts.

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Meanwhile, lawyers for the city and state filed the declarations on Monday as they seek friend-of-the-court status in the case filed by protesters and freelance journalists against the US Department of Homeland Security. They have submitted briefs in support of extending a temporary restraining order in the case.

Oregon's Attorney General called the indiscriminate use of tear gas and pepper balls against peaceful protesters “dangerous” and “un-American.”

“We will not stand by and allow it to continue,” Dan Rayfield said in a statement.

'ICE out': Protests against immigration crackdown spread across US

Anti-ICE protests spread across the US as more and more Americans demand an end to the Trump administration’s draconian crackdown on immigration.

This week federal officials announced an end to an immigration crackdown in Minnesota that led to mass detentions, protests and two deaths, sparking national outrage.

Anti-ICE protests spread across the US as more Americans demanded an end to the Trump administration’s draconian crackdown on immigration.

The anti-immigration crackdown in the state of Minnesota was the largest federal immigration enforcement operation carried out in the United States. The deadly ICE-led code-named Operation Metro Surge was conducted with the deployment of some 3,000 agents to the area.

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