Rep. Adelita Grijalva Says She Was Pepper-sprayed During Ice Raid

Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-Ariz.) said Friday she was pepper-sprayed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers during a raid near a restaurant in Tucson.

“I was here … and was sprayed in the face by a very aggressive agent, pushed around by others, when I literally was not being aggressive, I was asking for clarification, which is my right as a member of Congress,” Grijalva said in a video posted to her social media account.

Grijalva said she identified herself as a member of Congress and described the agents at the scene — with the exception of one — as “being rude and disrespectful.” She said members of her staff and the media were also pepper-sprayed and that two people were arrested at the raid.

Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin denied that Grijalva was pepper-sprayed, writing in a statement that Grijalva “was in the vicinity of someone who *was* pepper sprayed as they were obstructing and assaulting law enforcement.” She also said two law enforcement officers were seriously injured during the raid.

“Presenting one’s self as a ‘Member of Congress’ doesn’t give you the right to obstruct law enforcement,” McLaughlin wrote.

Grijalva was sworn in last month after being elected 50 days prior in a special election to succeed her father, former Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.).

Grijalva and other Democrats accused Speaker Mike Johnson of delaying her swearing-in ceremony to prevent Grijalva from signing on to a discharge petition that led to the House passing a bill to force the release of the federal government’s files regarding convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Johnson cited the seven-week government shutdown in justifying the delay.

Arizona Democrats were quick to criticize ICE, with Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) writing on social media that “Pepper-spraying a sitting member of Congress is disgraceful, unacceptable, and absolutely not what we voted for. Period.”

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes — who sued Johnson for failing to seat Grijalva in a timely manner — also called the incident “unacceptable and outrageous,” writing in a statement that “Effective law enforcement requires restraint and accountability, not unchecked aggression.”

Grijalva is the latest Democrat to seek resistance from ICE when attempting to conduct oversight of ICE raids or inspect detention centers, with DHS forcibly removing Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) from a DHS press conference in June. The agency has defended the arrests, with McLaughlin promising more arrests after federal agents arrested Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.) at an ICE facility in New Jersey in May.

“I think that this is one of the problems, the biggest problem that we have in this community is that we have Trump, that has no regard for any due process, the rule of law, the Constitution,” Grijalva said in the video.