This story, initially published Tuesday, has been updated to include a recent statement from ICE.
Nearly two days after ICE agents pepper sprayed multiple people in South Tucson Monday, the agency acknowledged the encounter in a statement Wednesday morning.
AZPM reached out to ICE late Monday afternoon for a comment on the incident, which unfolded outside a Walgreen’s on 29th Street and South 6th Avenue.
On Wednesday morning, an ICE spokesperson said people had blocked agents’ vehicles from leaving the parking lot. After using sirens and lights in an attempt to disperse the group, agents deployed pepper spray, the statement said.
“Eventually, the officers had to deploy crowd-control measures, including pepper spray, for their own safety,” the statement noted.
Cellphone footage provided to AZPM by a community member offers a window into the encounter.
In the video, observers can be seen filming masked ICE agents in the parking lot. As sirens resound and blue-and-red lights flash from a black Dodge Durango, a masked individual approaches the observers one-by-one, spraying a substance into their eyes. In the video, ICE agents can be seen dragging and shoving observers across the parking lot.
“Additional ICE team members arrived and physically cleared the group, allowing most units to exit. However, protestors lay down in front of and behind one ICE vehicle,” the statement added.
During the incident, “South Tucson Police Department patrol units responded to the scene. One officer directed traffic and another spoke to the protesters,” the ICE statement said.
An AZPM reporter arrived minutes after the incident Monday and observed people carrying water to treat a person with irritated, bloodshot eyes. A South Tucson Police Officer present at the scene told the reporter he could not comment on behalf of the department. Reached Tuesday, STP Commander Raul Navarro said the department was not involved in ICE operations and that officers were on the scene for an unrelated call. Navarro said officers offered medical assistance to people at the scene.
‘Pepper spraying us point blank’ ##
Observers are volunteers who witness and document interactions with ICE. The federal agency has received vehement pushback in recent months over its interactions with community members and observers — particularly after federal agents fatally shot Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.
In a statement Monday, observer Gene Weir said multiple ICE vehicles had been circling the area in South Tucson for “at least two hours” Monday morning. Then, Weir said, the agents parked outside the Walgreen’s to use the store’s bathroom.
As the agents left the store, Weir said, “we got in their way so they couldn’t leave the parking lot to continue kidnapping people.”
Then, as sirens resounded, at least one agent started “pepper spraying us point blank, which did not deter us,” he said.
Two other community members described the same chain of events to AZPM: multiple ICE vehicles driving through the neighborhood, a cluster of people observing ICE, and an ICE agent deploying pepper spray. The agents left the scene without arresting or detaining anyone, they said.
Last December, ICE agents conducted enforcement operations at dozens of Taco Giro locations across Southern Arizona — including one in Barrio Hollywood.
There, agents fired tear gas and pepper balls into a crowd of protesters. Congresswoman Adelita Grijalva, who was present at the scene, said she was hit by the chemicals, as was a local reporter.
“When I presented myself as a Member of Congress and asked for more information, my staff and I were pushed aside and pepper-sprayed by masked agents,” Grijalva said in a statement at the time. “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?”
