Portland school forced to move due to tear gas, munitions from ICE facility

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"We have been impacted mostly by chemical weapons," an administrator for the grade school said this week about the ICE facility's impact on the school

By Sean Neumann
Published on August 22, 2025 05:15PM EDT

A Portland grade school says it’s relocating due to dangerous and violent conditions a local ICE facility has caused amid its aggressive responses to protesters outside their building.

The Cottonwood School, located in Portland, Ore., is calling its relocation an “emergency move,” according to an automated response PEOPLE received from a school official’s email account.

PEOPLE reached out to school administrators for the southwest Portland public charter school following reports from local KATU, KGW8, and KPTV, which first reported the decision to relocate amid responses from ICE agents against local protesters outside its facility.

“Cottonwood is currently in the process of an emergency move,” an email message from Laura Cartwright, the interim executive director of the Cottonwood School, read Friday, explaining that it could take multiple days to respond amid the school’s relocation efforts ...

https://people.com/portland-grade-school-moves-unsafe-tear-gas-ice-facility-11796152

[struggle4progress]

1. Using so much toxic gas, the school next door had to move

[struggle4progress]

2. So Much Tear Gas, a Public School Fled

Robert McCoy
August 22, 2025/1:34 p.m. ET

... The Cottonwood School, a publicly funded charter school, was, until this month, located adjacent to the city’s ICE facility. But in recent months, as protests against Trump’s mass deportations ramped up around the facility, ICE agents began to deploy tear gas against demonstrators ...

“At the end of the school year, we started noticing more activity at the ICE building, and there were chemicals being used on a regular basis and munitions being found on our playground,” she told local NBC affiliate KGW.

Cartwright also told Portland’s ABC affiliate that they were finding the munitions on a daily basis.“We were getting footage in the evenings of green gases, and gases being used near our gardens and enveloping our area,” she said ...

Historically, the Cottonwood School has operated “harmoniously with the protesters,” Cartwright explained to Rolling Stone. “Our issue is the chemical weapons being used against them that were impacting our space.… We can’t have children picking up a plastic tear-gas ball that’s going to pop” ...

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3. Portland charter school relocates

KGW News
Aug 20, 2025

The Cottonwood School was forced to relocate after activity at the nearby ICE facility created safety concerns, including chemicals, munitions and gas that impacted the campus. The school's enrollment rate dropped and safety became a big concern.

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4. Protester alleges he was battered and assaulted by ICE agents

KATU News
Aug 23, 2025

KATU reporter Tanvi Varma breaks down two recent incidents that have allegedly happened outside the ICE facility in Portland, Oregon, as people protest the Trump administration’s immigration policies.

Both incidents involve Daryn Herzberg, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran.
The first alleged incident was captured on video. The video shows what appears to be a federal employee slamming Herzberg to the ground, and then others pummeling him.

The video could be the subject of a lawsuit.

In the second incident Herzberg’s attorney said several federal employees tackled his client to the ground, grabbed his hair and slammed his face into the ground several times.

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5. Concerns about South Portland ICE facility

KATU News
Aug 22, 2025

... A couple blocks away from the ICE building is where Elle George lives. After about a month of protests, she too is on her way out.

“I started experiencing negative effects from all the gases they're using. And my doctor determined that it was medically necessary for me to relocate. I'm disabled, so when things trigger problems in my body, there could be serious consequences,” said George.

[MagickMuffin]

6. Won't anyone think of the children? Only when it serves our purpose

The fundies battling cry: Think of the CHILDREN!!!


However, that only applies to whatever the fundies decide to limit our freedoms. Any other time, not so much. Children are props to the fundies.

[hildegaard28]

7. So they've

Already started gassing the undesirables?

[PurgedVoter]

8. ICE shouldn't be allowed near a school

Institutionalized serial abductors who do child traffic while stealing children from parents who often never see their children again, should not be allowed near schools.

ICE is a terrorist organization. ICE has a racist agenda. ICE violates the constitution in quite a few ways. It is un-American.