A day after federal raids swept up roughly 50 people across Tucson, hundreds of residents gathered at Menlo Park on Saturday to voice fears over escalating immigration enforcement and to organize neighborhood-level responses.

Speakers described the raids as part of intensifying enforcement tactics and urged Tucsonans to prepare and organize before future actions occur.

On Friday, federal agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other agencies raided several Taco Giro locations across town as part of a broader immigration and tax investigation. Protesters, journalists and community members gathered at the restaurant’s North Grande Avenue location.

Agents fired tear gas, pepper spray and pepper balls to disperse the crowd, which included Rep. Adelita Grijalva, who identified herself as a member of Congress and attempted to de-escalate the situation.

In a statement issued Friday evening, Grijalva said she and her staff were on their way to get lunch when they encountered the raid at Taco Giro, which she said has served the community for decades.

“It’s in the heart of our community — right next to a church and a preschool,” Grijalva said. “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. 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?”

Grijalva went on to say that communities across the country are “being terrorized by a lawless agency” under the Trump administration, adding that residents “deserve to know whether these raids are targeting genuine public safety threats — or law-abiding neighbors who have called our communities home for decades.”

“No family in our community should live in fear, and I will not rest until we get clear answers and accountability,” Grijalva said.

Mayor Regina Romero issued her own statement Friday, saying she shared community members’ fears created by President Donald Trump’s “immoral and inhumane immigration policies.”

“Under the Trump administration, unidentified federal agents often intentionally wear clothing with vague words like ‘police’ to purposefully confuse the public,” she said, adding that uniformed Tucson Police Department officers at the scene were there only to close the street and keep residents safe. “They were not involved in the use of force against community members. We are committed to having a safe city where everyone’s rights are respected and legally enforced at all times.”

An Instagram post began circulating Saturday morning inviting people to a community assembly at Menlo Park to discuss ways to support and defend community members from ICE.

Speakers said the gathering was meant to create space for difficult conversations about the fear and “terror” they believe federal enforcement is bringing to the community, and to begin deciding together how to organize against ICE.

They emphasized the need for neighborhood-level safety groups, shared information and empathy, noting that many people hesitate to speak out because of scarce information and fears of retaliation, including job loss.

“We’ve been doing community response for quite some time now, and it seems the ICE raids are amping up,” said a woman named Aurora. “It almost seemed kind of like a tactic. Like why hadn’t Arizona been targeted yet, knowing that we have such a big immigration and refugee population?”

Aurora said she believed the agencies had been testing the waters in other jurisdictions before executing raids in Tucson, pointing to the forthcoming federal detention center in Marana.

“They’re going to want to fill it,” she said. “We have to organize preemptively rather than responding when it’s already happened.”

A follow-up meeting is planned for Jan. 10.

Emma Diaz is a University of Arizona alum and freelance journalist based in Tucson. Tucson Spotlight editor Caitlin Schmidt contributed to this story.

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