Arizona congresswoman who waited 7 weeks for Mike Johnson to swear her in says she was pepper sprayed by ICE at a taco joint

Democratic Rep. Adelita Grijalva says federal agents fired pepper spray at her and others protesting an Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation in Arizona.

In a video posted on social media on Friday, Grijalva said about 40 federal officers, many of them masked, pulled up in several vehicles to raid a Taco Giro in Tucson, where a large group of protesters had gathered on the street.

There, she was “sprayed in the face by a very aggressive agent” and “pushed by others,” she said.

She also posted footage of a heavily armed officer firing pepper spray at her and others in the crowd as she approaches the agents and repeatedly tells them “you need to get out.” The video also appears to show a pepper bullet hitting her leg.

Grijalva, who was recently sworn into office by House Speaker Mike Johnson 50 days after winning a special election for a House seat in Arizona, said only one official was “trying to talk to me in any kind of civil tone” once she introduced herself as a member of Congress.

“I was literally not 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, like they’re treating everyone else.”

The raid was conducted in connection with a years-long investigation into allegations of immigration and tax violations, according to federal officials.

At least 190 people in the area have been charged with immigration-related crimes in the past week, according to the US Attorney’s Office in Arizona. The vast majority 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 “disproportionate use of force” to push back against the crowd.

“Smoke grenades and pepper balls against the public, including our own Representative Adelita Grijalva, are not justified and cannot be tolerated,” they wrote.

Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin disputed the Congresswoman’s account.

“If her claims were true, this would be a medical miracle,” she said in an emailed statement to The Independent. “But they’re not true. She wasn’t pepper sprayed.”

Grijalva “was in the vicinity of someone who *was* pepper sprayed as they were obstructing and attacking law enforcement,” according to McLaughlin.

Two law enforcement officers “were seriously injured by this crowd that was joined by Rep. Adelita Grijalva,” she said.

“Positioning as a ‘Member of Congress’ does not give you the right to obstruct law enforcement,” McLaughlin said.

The Trump administration has accelerated the President’s mass deportation campaign with massive immigration enforcement operations across the country, resulting in thousands of arrests, most of them targeting people who have never been convicted of a crime.

“The biggest problem we have in this community is that we have Trump, who has no regard for any due process, the rule of law, the Constitution,” Grijalva said Friday. “People are literally disappearing from the streets.”

The Trump administration has increased federal agents in Democratic-led states and cities following a wave of protests against Trump’s anti-immigration agenda, fueled by ICE raids and mass arrests inside courthouses and in targeted operations that have rounded up thousands of people across the country.

Federal agents during Trump’s drive into Chicago were blocked from firing rubber bullets, tear gas and other chemical munitions at protesters and journalists after a lawsuit by press associations and faith leaders accused officers of a “pattern of extreme brutality.”

The lawsuit accused agents of firing tear gas and pepper balls indiscriminately into crowds and at close range, without warning, as volatile scenes erupted from protests against immigration raids across Chicago neighborhoods.