Lawmakers Demand Reforms to Immigration Officers’ Use of Tear Gas and Pepper Spray — ProPublica

A ProPublica investigation found that scores of children were hurt by these chemicals during President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. Lawmakers say the findings show more restrictions are needed...

 https://www.propublica.org/article/lawmakers-demand-reforms-tear-gas-children 

Trump’s Immigration Crackdown Has Harmed Scores of Kids With Tear Gas, Pepper Spray — ProPublica

“Tear gassing expectant mothers, children, and babies shocks the conscience,” U.S. District Court Judge Sara Ellis wrote in her ruling in November. She found that ICE and CBP officers used excessive force, deploying the weapons “without justification, often without warning” against people who didn’t pose a physical threat...

 https://www.propublica.org/article/kids-tear-gas-trump-immigration-crackdown

 

Federal Agents Launch Tear Gas at Nonviolent Anti-ICE Protesters—Including Children – Mother Jones

Portland Mayor Keith Wilson released a statement late Saturday night, saying that it was a "peaceful daytime protest" that "posed no danger to federal forces." 

"To those who continue to work for ICE: Resign. To those who control this facility: Leave," he continued. "To those who continue to make these sickening decisions, go home, look in a mirror, and ask yourselves why you have gassed children. Ask yourselves why you continue to work for an agency responsible for murders on American streets."…

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/02/federal-agents-launch-tear-gas-at-nonviolent-anti-ice-protesters-including-children-portland-oregon/ 

 

ICE’s Tear Gas Sent a 6-Month-Old to the Hospital, the Latest in an Alarming Pattern – Mother Jones

Federal agents' use of chemical weapons has hurt children at immigration raids, while walking down their block, and in their schools...

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/01/ice-tear-gas-on-kids-minneapolis-chicago-chemical-irritant/  

ICE tear gassed 27 Chicago police officers, Superintendent Snelling says

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/onCvjvWN7zA

 

Body slamming, teargas and pepper balls: viral videos show Ice using extreme force in Chicago

One protester, named A'keisha who declined to share her last name, said that it seemed like Ice agents wanted to hurt protesters. 

"What was unique on the first day is that it didn't feel like Ice had planned to use their legal tools to remove us," she said. "They have the right, right to say, 'Y'all gotta leave, arrest them.' But they didn't. They chose instead to be violent and, like, push us and throw us to the ground and drag us." … 

 Another protester, Reverand David Black of the First Presbyterian church of Chicago, said that he was pelted with about seven or eight "pepper exploding pellets" that hit his head, face, torso, arms and legs, while in a position of prayer.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/04/ice-chicago-extreme-force-protesters-journalists 

Video shows migrants reacting after authorities fired tear gas - PolitiFact

We found plenty of evidence that the video shows people dealing with the aftermath of tear gas.

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/dec/20/facebook-posts/video-shows-migrants-reacting-after-authorities-fi/

Wall of Moms, Black Lives Matter protesters sue Trump administration for use of tear gas, force in Portland - The Washington Post

Protesters who say they were tear-gassed, shot at, pepper-sprayed and assaulted outside a federal courthouse while peacefully demonstrating and rendering aid to others sued the Trump administration Monday over its use of force during nightly demonstrations in downtown Portland. ....
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/07/27/wall-moms-black-lives-matter-protesters-sue-trump-administration-use-tear-gas-force-portland/

Mayor of Portland, Oregon, tear gassed by federal agents - ABC News

The mayor of Portland, Oregon was tear-gassed by U.S. government agents as he stood outside a federal courthouse during another night of protests against the presence of federal police sent by President Donald Trump to quell the city's ongoing unrest. Mayor Ted Wheeler, a Democrat, appeared slightly dazed and coughed and said Wednesday night it was the first time he’d been tear-gassed. ....
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/portland-mayor-jeered-rally-protesters-71935497

Federal officers are using unmarked cars to arrest Portland protesters

Activists in Portland, Oregon, are expressing severe alarm about recent incidents involving federal law enforcement officers using unmarked cars to detain peaceful protesters. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jul/17/portland-protests-federal-officers-george-floyd

Officials familiar with Lafayette Square confrontation challenge Trump administration claim of what drove aggressive expulsion of protesters - The Washington Post

During the nearly two weeks since authorities charged at peaceful protesters to push them from D.C. streets — about 30 minutes before President Trump walked through the area for a photo op — his aides, the attorney general and federal law enforcement officials have sought to shield the president from political fallout with a simple defense: One scene, they say, had nothing to do with the other. The notion that the street-clearing offensive around Lafayette Square was already planned, and separate from Trump’s decision to visit a nearby church, has emerged as the administration’s central explanation for scenes of federal officers shoving protesters with shields and firing pepper balls, chemical grenades and smoke bombs at retreating crowds on June 1. ....
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/officials-challenge-trump-administration-claim-of-what-drove-aggressive-expulsion-of-lafayette-square-protesters/2020/06/14/f2177e1e-acd4-11ea-a9d9-a81c1a491c52_story.html

Secret Service now says it did use pepper spray to clear protesters during the Trump church photo op

The Secret Service's statement is the latest reversal from law enforcement agencies about what occurred in the moments leading up to President Donald Trump's walk outside the White House gates.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/secret-service-now-says-it-did-use-pepper-spray-clear-n1231022

Attorney General Barr’s dishonest defense of the clearing of Lafayette Square - The Washington Post

It has been a week since the violent outgrowth of protests centered on police brutality was at its apex. The death of George Floyd in the custody of Minneapolis police prompted a national mobilization, demonstrations that were occasionally used as pretexts or jumping-off points for vandalism and looting. In recent days, that pattern has eased. It has been a week, too, since the most infamous response to a protest took place.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/06/08/attorney-general-barrs-dishonest-defense-clearing-lafayette-square/

Trump demands journalists correct stories on the use of tear gas. According to the CDC, it was tear gas. - The Washington Post

President Trump’s reelection campaign sent a message out to news organizations Tuesday night, demanding a correction to articles that described security forces’ use of tear gas to disperse demonstrators outside the White House on Monday, to allow Trump to cross the street to pose for photos at a church. The U.S. Park Police had earlier released a statement defending that effort, saying that their use of chemical agents against the crowd came in response to violence from protesters, and that it involved “pepper balls” and “smoke canisters.” The statement went on to assert that “no tear gas was used” in the Lafayette Square incident. https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/media/trump-demands-journalists-correct-stories-on-the-use-of-tear-gas-according-to-the-cdc-it-was-tear-gas/2020/06/02/bf68726c-a544-11ea-bb20-ebf0921f3bbd_story.html

Several Administrations Used Tear Gas at the Border - FactCheck.org

Q: During the Obama administration, did Border Patrol agents use tear gas to control crowds of migrants during incidents at the U.S.-Mexico border? A: Yes, and the gas was also used by administrations prior to his, news reports say. ....
https://www.factcheck.org/2018/12/several-administrations-used-tear-gas-at-the-border/

Methodist church sign reads: ‘I was a stranger and you tear gassed me. ...Wait a second’ - The Hill

A message questioning U.S. border agents' use of tear gas at the southern border was posted outside the United Methodist Building in Washington, D.C., this week. ....
https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/418936-message-posted-outside-dc-united-methodist-building-i-was-a

How Tear Gas Became a Favorite Weapon of U.S. Border Patrol, Despite Being Banned In Warfare

As the Trump administration continues to defend firing tear gas into crowds of asylum seekers, we look at the history of tear gas, which is banned in warfare but legal for federal authorities and police to turn on civilians. Border authorities’ use of tear gas has spiked under the Trump administration, with the agency’s own data revealing it has deployed tear gas over two dozen times this year alone. Customs and Border Protection told Newsweek Tuesday it began using tear gas under the Obama administration in 2010. The agency’s use of tear gas has now reached a seven-year record high. We speak with Stuart Schrader, lecturer in sociology at Johns Hopkins University. He has studied how tear gas went from a weapon of war used in Vietnam to being deployed by law enforcement at home. His forthcoming book is titled “Badges Without Borders: How Global Counterinsurgency Transformed American Policing.”...
https://youtu.be/8W68UWHYgK8
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FACT CHECK: Was the 'Illegal Alien Mom with Kids' Photograph Staged? - www.snopes.com

Chaos erupted in Tijuana, Mexico, on 25 November 2018 when U.S. Border Patrol agents unleashed tear gas on migrants near a major border crossing point. And as per usual, that chaos prompted opportunistic purveyors of misinformation to swing into action.....
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/mom-tear-gas-photo/