A federal law enforcement operation at an Arizona taco shop resulted in a Friday fracas, with agents deploying pepper spray as a group of protesters tried to stop authorities. Two agents were injured, and US Rep. Adelita Grijalva was in the vicinity as protesters were sprayed. The Democratic congresswoman from Arizona took to social media, claiming she was sprayed in the face and accusing immigration enforcement officers of operating without transparency or accountability, per the AP. "While I am fine, if that is the way they treat me, how are they treating other community members who do not have the same privileges and protections that I do?" she said.
It was less than a month ago that Grijalva was sworn in to Congress, more than seven weeks after she won a special election to fill the House seat last held by her late father, Raul Grijalva. In videos posted online, Adelita Grijalva said she, two members of her staff, and members of the media were harassed and sprayed by agents during what residents thought was a federal immigration raid, so interrupted "because they were afraid that they were taking people without due process, without any kind of notice."
The footage shows a staffer stepping in front of Grijalva, raising his arm, and turning the congresswoman away as a federal agent sprays nearby protesters. In another clip, as Grijalva continues walking in the street, a projectile is seen landing near her foot. She said she didn't know what substance she was sprayed with but that it was "still affecting" her with a cough. Federal officials, however, said Grijalva wasn't pepper-sprayed and that agents with Homeland Security Investigations, a branch of ICE, were targeting multiple Tucson restaurants as part of a yearslong investigation into immigration and tax violations. Several search warrants were served across southern Arizona on Friday as part of the operation.
In a statement, Department of Homeland Security rep Tricia McLaughlin described the group gathered in Tucson as a mob, taking issue with Grijalva's account of what happened. "If her claims were true, this would be a medical marvel. But they're not true. She wasn't pepper-sprayed," McLaughlin wrote. "She was in the vicinity of someone who *was* pepper-sprayed as they were obstructing and assaulting law enforcement. Presenting one's self as a 'Member of Congress' doesn't give you the right to obstruct law enforcement."
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