PHOENIX – Protestors of recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions in the Phoenix area said the agency is violating use-of-force policies in recent raids on a popular Valley sports bar.

A bystander video taken Monday shows paramedics as they wheeled a woman away on a yellow and blue stretcher outside a Zipps Sports Grill in downtown Tempe. Her breathing was labored, and she had her hand over her chest and her face was contorted with pain.

The woman, who has not been identified by Cronkite News, was pepper sprayed by federal law enforcement officers during raids across the Valley on Monday. 

The woman was one of  the people who advocates said were victims of use-of-force violations by federal law enforcement officials conducting a Valley-wide raid the popular sports restaurants Monday. Ricardo Reyes, the executive director of VetsForward, said he saw people hit with pepper spray as law enforcement was driving away from a Zipps location in Scottsdale on 64th Street and Greenway Parkway.

“They were acting out of anger,” Reyes  said about the agents. “They were already leaving. They were in their cars and driving away and in no danger. There was no reason to do it except out of spite, just to be bullies.” 

Reyes said he and his team treated the woman in the video before her family took her to a nearby hospital, where she remained  Tuesday morning for observation. 

Kai Newkirk released the video on his Instagram account of the woman being wheeled to an ambulance after being pepper sprayed by agents. Multiple people were affected by pepperballs fired by authorities within Zipps, including a man who Newkirk said he tried to help before EMS arrived on the scene. 

Newkirk said he believes the Department of Homeland Security, President Donald Trump and ICE are violating citizens' civil rights. 

“I don’t think that’s what the American people want at all,” Newkirk said of the ICE raids around the country. 

Lennea Montandon, a public affairs spokeswoman for the District of Arizona U.S. Attorney's Office, said in a statement the raids were part of a months-long criminal investigation conducted by Homeland Security Investigations in coordination with other federal partners. Agents served federal search warrants at 15 locations throughout the Phoenix area on Monday. 

“The search warrants were authorized based on information presented to a federal judge and are being executed as part of a criminal investigation into felony violations of federal law,” Montandon wrote in the statement. 

Celina Washburn chants in front of the ICE Phoenix Field Office on Jan. 27, 2026, in Phoenix, Ariz. Washburn is a daughter of immigrant farmers and says she knows first hand the discrimination immigrants can face.

Cronkite News/Allison Kotzbauer

Although the Department of Justice said it was not an official immigration action, Raul Piña,  who serves on the Community Advisory Board for the  Melendres v. MCSO case regarding racial profiling, disagreed. Piña said this technique of detaining undocumented immigrants was pioneered by former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. 

Piña said Arpaio “introduced the idea of racial profiling,” and this practice continues to be implemented today in light of recent ICE activity. 

“MCSO does not appear to be in a hurry to create distance between the new MCSO and previous sheriffs, and they are providing support to these raids, as seen on social media,” Piña said. 

Reyes, with VetsForward, said ICE actions in Arizona and across the country were practiced by MCSO under Arpaio and his “papers please” policies. Reyes said it was a common MCSO tactic to conduct immigration raids under the pretense of other investigations, like into false identification. 

“ICE is modeling its tactics after Arpaio,” he said. “He used to do this all the time.” 

Piña said the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office pioneered many tactics used by ICE being seen in Minnesota and elsewhere. 

“(Arpaio) introduced some of the big, terrible ideas that now other agencies use as models,” Piña said. 

On Tuesday at noon, car horns blared in support and megaphones droned continuous chants as U.S. Rep. Yassamin Ansari, D-Ariz., led protestors from the Zipps location on Central Avenue near Thomas Road to the ICE field office in Phoenix.  Ansari was joined by Phoenicians from all over the Valley protesting what she called an “authoritarian regime.” 

Ansari was at the same Zipps location on Monday as federal law enforcement conducted its operation. She  posted her presence in an Instagram video. It shows a frantic scene as protesters and observers chanted “shame on you” at law enforcement.

“I am a daughter of immigrants,” Ansari said Tuesday about her desire to represent her community at the incident and protest. “My deep commitment to this country stems from the fundamental belief that immigrants are welcome in the United States and we are a country of immigrants.”

Protesters included Zoe Seymour, a former Peoria Unified history teacher. Seymour called the actions of ICE across the country “unconstitutional.” 

“Too many people are scared right now,” she said. 

As call-and-response cheers came from the crowd, Ansari spoke about working to train civilians on their rights when confronted by ICE agents. 

“We need to see more and more people peacefully protesting,” Ansari said. 

Gem Boehem, a local bartender, distributed small papers labeled “Know Your Rights With ICE.” The fliers provided information about creating a family plan, not signing unfamiliar documents and having the right not to disclose personal information.

“We need to see more and more people peacefully protesting,” Ansari said. 

Boehem said the protest was important to her because she believes service workers like those affected by the incident at Zipps are responsible for feeding Americans. 

“People have the right to peaceably assemble and engage in political protests, but that doesn't mean you can interfere with law enforcement operations,” Maricopa County Sheriff Jerry Sheridan said in a statement. “Had the coordination and cooperation with local law enforcement been effective from the beginning, situations such as Minneapolis may have been prevented.”

Sheridan was previously chief deputy to Arpaio. 

The U.S. Marshals Service did not respond to a Cronkite News request for comment. The Phoenix Police Department directed Cronkite News to HSI, which also did not respond to a request for comment. 

“The raids that took place across Maricopa County yesterday undermine that sense of safety and spread fear throughout the valley,” Alexander Gonzalez, communications strategist for the American Civil Liberties Union Arizona, said in a statement. “Targeting hardworking people who are trying to build a better life for themselves, and their families, causes lasting harm.”

This article first appeared on Cronkite News and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.