On Thursday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Lead,” Rep.-Elect Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ) responded to calls to turn down the temperature and not demonize ICE in the wake of a shooting at an ICE facility in Texas by saying, “ICE has to follow some basic rules and guidelines. … We have people that are just being disappeared off the streets.” And “That does not mean that we should accept any kind of political violence, but understand the situation that we’re in here in border communities.”
Host Jake Tapper asked, “We saw this horrific act of violence just yesterday, with an ICE facility in Texas fired upon, with an ICE detainee killed, two others injured. It appears as though the shooter was anti-ICE. He wrote on a bullet, ‘Anti-ICE.’ And we had a press conference earlier, and we’ve heard a lot of law enforcement leaders and Republicans talking about bringing down the temperature, people not demonizing ICE. What’s your — what are your thoughts on that?”
Grijalva answered, “I think ICE has to follow some basic rules and guidelines. And when you live in a border community here, like CD-7, right around the corner, where I get gas, I’ve seen two different instances of people get out of an unmarked vehicle wearing bulletproof vests with no insignia on the clothing, just all black and a mask, and grabbing people, literally out of the parking lot of a Circle K, and that is happening on a regular basis here. And so, there is a lot of fear. We have people that are just being disappeared off the streets. And when there is no consequence, there’s no due process, there’s no explanation, no ability to communicate with your loved ones, that’s a very scary situation to be in. That does not mean that we should accept any kind of political violence, but understand the situation that we’re in here in border communities.”
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