Rep. Adelita Grijalva said she was on her way to lunch at the Barrio Hollywood restaurant on Friday when she said she heard that Homeland Security agents were there.
Police tape surrounded the restaurant and numerous agents wore masks and Homeland Security vests. A crowd of customers, bystanders and reporters stood outside the perimeter, watching.
“I didn't know what they were there for,” Grijalva said. “Nobody else did either.”
Demonstrators held anti-ICE signs and blew whistles when agents began shooting flash bangs then tear gas and pepper balls into the crowd. At least one local reporter was sprayed in the left eye and briefly blinded before recovering.
Footage of the incident shows at least one protester being arrested.
Before the agents began firing munitions into the crowd, an AZPM reporter observed numerous agents wearing masks on the premise of the restaurant at around 10:30 a.m., some of them carrying boxes out and putting them into an unmarked vehicle.
On Tucson’s south side, there were about a dozen masked agents wearing Homeland Security Investigation vests at the Taco Giro location on West Valencia near South Mission Road. They were also seen bringing out boxes and putting them in a vehicle.
Agents on site said they had a federal warrant but did not show it to an AZPM reporter.
Tucson Police Department confirmed that agents with Homeland Security Investigations served a federal search warrant at the Taco Giro at North Grande Avenue.
TPD says that federal agents requested emergency support to Grande after federal agents fired munitions into the crowd, and that TPD Rapid Response Team personnel responded, wearing dark blue uniforms, but that they didn’t participate in detentions, arrests, munitions or use-of-force.
Grijalva said when agents fired munitions into the crowd, describing them as “very aggressive.”
“They were pushing people,” she said. “None of that was necessary.”
Immigration and Customs Enforcement said that HSI, the agency’s investigative branch, was executing 16 search warrants in Southern Arizona Friday as part of a years-long investigation into immigration and tax violations, in partnership with IRS Criminal Investigation and other federal partners.
The agency said that multiple people are in custody, but they did not provide any more details.
“When we're talking about the fear that ICE is creating in our community, that's what's happening here,” Grijalva said.
“We don't know what the situation is, but there's little to no trust in community members, and people feel like… they have to protect communities, because this administration isn't.”
