Rep. Adelita Grijalva X Account
Audio By Carbonatix
Newly sworn-in Democrat Rep. Adelita Grijalva said she was pepper-sprayed outside of a Tucson taco restaurant by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, who raided the establishment on Friday.
In a video posted on social media, Grijalva shared that she joined a group of community members outside of Taco Giro on Friday afternoon to protest the raid. She said there were around 40 ICE agents at the restaurant, which she visits “literally once a week.”
But after arriving, she was “sprayed in the face by a very aggressive agent and pushed around by others,” she said, and added that she still has “remnants of whatever they sprayed on us.”
“I literally was not being aggressive. I was asking for clarification, which is my right as a member of Congress,” Grijalva said, adding that only one agent was being calm and trying to answer questions while all other agents were “being rude and disrespectful.”
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Since President Donald Trump began implementing his mass deportation agenda earlier this year, community rapid response groups have cropped up throughout Arizona to respond to ICE raids. The groups seek to ensure due process is being respected and to inform detainees’ loved ones of what happened.
“I want to protect people in this community and that’s why I showed up,” Grijalva said. “It’s important for me to have eyes on what’s happening here.”
The aftermath of the pepper spray was still physically bothering Grijalva as she filmed the video, but she wasn’t the only person in the crowd who was hit by the agents’ pepper-spray. Members of the press were hit with spray, she said, as were two of Grijalva’s staffers.
On social media, Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego called the pepper-spraying of Grijalva “disgraceful, unacceptable, and absolutely not what we voted for.”
Taco Giro did not respond to a request for comment from Phoenix New Times. The phone number connected to the restaurant rang for minutes before hanging up.
In a statement about the incident released by her office, Grijalva went on to call ICE a lawless agency” under the Trump administration, “operating with no transparency, no accountability, and open disregard for basic due process. No family in our community should live in fear, and I will not rest until we get clear answers and accountability.”
Videos from the raid show federal agencies deploying tear gas on a Tucson street while several bystanders and protesters film and yell. One video, released on Grijalva’s account, shows a masked agent spraying a chemical irritant near Grijalva and others, and later shows what appear to be pepperball shots exploding near Grijalva’s feet.
Grijalva thanked the Tucson Police Department for de-escalating the situation, calling them “not the aggressors here,” who arrived on the scene after ICE agents had conducted the raid. In a statement, the Tucson Police Department said federal agents “requested emergency support” so they could exit the area. A Tucson police rapid response team “responded to the location to support a safe and orderly environment. For a brief period, vehicle traffic on Grande Avenue was restricted to allow federal special agents to exit the area safely.”
“All TPD personnel involved in the response were in full TPD patrol (dark blue) uniforms,” the department wrote, directing use-of-force concerns to Homeland Security Investigations. “No detentions, arrests, munitions, or force was deployed by TPD personnel at this incident during our response. The Tucson Police Department remains committed to supporting our community by ensuring both public safety and the protection of everyone’s ability to peacefully exercise their rights.”
In a statement to New Times, ICE spokesperson Xavyer Burgos-Ortiz said several federal agencies — including HSI and IRS Criminal Investigation — executed 16 search warrants in southern Arizona “as part of a years-long investigation into immigration and tax violations.” He said “multiple individuals are in custody” but did not specify how many. Grijalva said in her video that two people were arrested in the raid.
On social media, Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin dismissed Grijalva’s claims.
“If her claims were true, this would be a medical marvel,” McLaughlin wrote to the outlet. “But they’re not true. She wasn’t pepper sprayed. She was in the vicinity of someone who *was* pepper sprayed as they were obstructing and assaulting law enforcement. In fact, 2 law enforcement officers were seriously injured by this mob that (Grijalva) joined. Presenting one’s self as a ‘Member of Congress’ doesn’t give you the right to obstruct law enforcement.”
Grijalva was sworn in on Nov. 12 after her special election win in September. She took over the seat that her father, Rep. Raul Grijalva, held for many years before his death earlier this year.
