Democratic Rep. Adelita Grijalva says federal agents fired pepper spray at her and an Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation in Arizona.
In a video posted on social media Friday, Grijalva said about 40 federal officers, most of them wearing masks, pulled up in several vehicles to raid a Taco Giro in Tucson, where a large group of protesters had gathered in the street.
There, she was “sprayed in the face with a very aggressive agent” and “pushed around by others,” she said.
She also posted footage of a heavily armored officer firing pepper spray toward her and others in the crowd as she approached the agents and repeatedly told them, “You need to get out.” In the footage, it is also seen that a pepper bullet hit him in the leg.
Grijalva, who was recently sworn in by House Speaker Mike Johnson 50 days after winning a special election for a House seat in Arizona, said an official was “trying to talk to me in any kind of civil tone” after introducing herself as a member of Congress.
Democratic Rep. Adelita Grijalva said ICE agents pepper-sprayed her and others during a Dec. 5 raid at a Tucson taco restaurant (AFP via Getty Images)
“I wasn’t literally being aggressive, I was asking for clarification, which is my right as a member of Congress,” she said. “I can only imagine if they’re going to treat me like that, how they’re going to treat everyone else.”
According to federal officials, the raid was part of a year-long investigation into alleged 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 area within the past week. A large number of those cases involved people accused of entering the country without legal permission.
In a joint statement, Tucson Mayor Regina Romero and Deputy Mayor Lane Santa Cruz said officers used a “disproportionate use of force” to push back against the crowd.
“The use of smoke grenades and pepper balls against the public, including our own representative Adelita Grijalva, is not justified and cannot be tolerated,” it read.
Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin disputed the congresswoman’s account.
“If his claims were true, it would be a medical miracle,” she said in an emailed statement independent. “But they’re not true. She wasn’t pepper sprayed.”
Grijalva “was next to someone who *was* pepper sprayed as they were obstructing and attacking law enforcement,” according to McLaughin.
Two law enforcement officers “were seriously injured by this mob that was joined by Rep. Adelita Grijalva,” she said.
“Identifying yourself as a ‘member of Congress’ does not give you the right to obstruct law enforcement,” McLaughlin said.
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson was sworn into office less than a month ago after Grijalva won election on September 23, seven weeks ago (REUTERS)
The Trump administration has intensified the president’s mass deportation campaign with sweeping immigration enforcement operations across the country, resulting in thousands of arrests, largely targeting people convicted of any crime.
“The biggest problem we have in this community is that we have Trump, who has no regard for due process, for the rule of law, for the Constitution,” Grijalva said Friday. “They’re literally running people off the streets.”
The Trump administration has ramped up federal agents in Democratic-led states and cities following a wave of protests against Trump’s anti-immigration agenda, ICE raids and mass arrests inside courthouses and targeted operations that have ensnared thousands of people across the country.
Federal agents stopped firing rubber bullets, tear gas and other chemical weapons at protesters and journalists during Trump’s push in Chicago after a lawsuit by press organizations and faith leaders accused authorities of a “pattern of extreme brutality.”
The lawsuit accuses agents of indiscriminately firing tear gas and pepper balls into crowds without warning, sparking volatile scenes from protests against immigration raids in a Chicago neighborhood.
