Democratic Rep. Adelita Grijalva said federal agents fired pepper spray at her and others protesting an Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation in Arizona.
Grijalva said in a video posted to social media on Friday that about 40 federal officers, most of them wearing masks, in several vehicles raided the Taco Giro in Tucson as a large crowd of demonstrators gathered in the street.
There, she said, she was “sprayed in the face by a very aggressive agent” and “pushed around by other people.”
She also posted a video showing a heavily armed police officer firing pepper spray at her and others in the crowd as she approached agents and repeatedly told them “you need to get out.” The video also appears to show a pepper bullet hitting her foot.
Grijalva was recently sworn in by House Speaker Mike Johnson, 50 days after winning a special election for his Arizona House seat. She said only one official “tried to speak to me in any civilized tone” after she introduced herself as a member of Congress.
Democratic Rep. Adelita Grijalva said ICE agents pepper sprayed her and others during a Dec. 5 raid on a Tucson burrito restaurant (AFP via Getty Images)
“I’m not actually being aggressive, I’m just asking for clarification, which is my right as a member of Congress,” she said. “I can only imagine how they would treat other people if they treated me like this.”
Federal officials said the raid was part of a years-long investigation into allegations of immigration and tax violations.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Arizona, at least 190 people were charged with immigration-related crimes in the district last week. The vast majority of these cases involve people accused of entering the country without legal permission.
Tucson Mayor Regina Romero and Vice Mayor Ryan Santa Cruz said in a joint statement that police used “excessive force” to suppress the crowd.
“Smoke bombs and pepper balls directed at the public, including our own Representative Adelita Grijalva, are unreasonable and intolerable,” the letter reads.
Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin disputed the congresswoman’s claims.
“If her claims are true, this would be a medical miracle,” she said in an emailed statement. independent. “But they’re not true. She wasn’t pepper sprayed.”
McLaughin said Grijalva “was in the vicinity of an individual who was pepper-sprayed for obstructing and assaulting law enforcement.”
She said two law enforcement officers were “seriously injured by this mob, which was joined by Rep. Adelita Grijalva.”
“Calling yourself a ‘member of Congress’ does not give you the authority to obstruct law enforcement,” McLaughlin said.
Grijalva won the election seven weeks ago on September 23 and was sworn in by Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson less than a month ago (Reuters)
The Trump administration has launched a massive immigration enforcement operation across the country, accelerating the president’s mass deportations that have resulted in thousands of arrests, mostly against people who have never been convicted of a crime.
“The biggest problem we have as a community is Trump, who has no respect for due process, the rule of law and the Constitution,” Grijalva said Friday. “They’re literally taking people off the streets.”
The Trump administration has dispatched federal agents to Democratic-led states and cities following a wave of protests against Trump’s anti-immigration agenda, fueled by ICE raids and mass arrests in courthouses and targeted operations to round up thousands of people across the country.
Federal agents were barred from firing rubber bullets, tear gas and other chemical munitions at protesters and reporters during Trump’s march into Chicago after a lawsuit filed by the press association and religious leaders accused officers of “an act of extreme brutality.”
The lawsuit accuses agents of indiscriminately firing tear gas and pepper balls at close range into crowds without warning amid volatile scenes of protests over immigration raids in neighborhoods across Chicago.