Highlights
- Reps. Greg Stanton, Yassamin Ansari and Adelita Grijalva sent a letter to ICE and DHS demanding answers about a pepper-spray incident involving 47 detainees at Mesa Gateway Airport.
- The Arizona Removal Operations Coordination Center held 332 detainees the night of the incident, more than double its stated capacity of 157.
- ICE said officers deployed OC spray after detainees kicked a cell door and banged windows; one detainee was hospitalized for an asthma episode.
- Congress members are demanding a response from ICE and DHS by the end of May, including surveillance footage, medical assessments and use-of-force policies.
Three Arizona Democratic members of Congress are demanding that ICE and the Department of Homeland Security answer questions about the use of pepper spray on 47 detainees at the Arizona Removal Operations Coordination Center at Mesa Gateway Airport, according to a letter exclusively obtained by the Arizona Mirror.
U.S. Reps. Greg Stanton, Yassamin Ansari and Adelita Grijalva wrote to ICE and DHS expressing alarm at the incident, its medical impact on detainees, and what they described as a lack of transparency from the agencies. "We are concerned that this incident fits into a broader national trend of widespread use of physical force and chemical agents inside ICE detention facilities nationwide," the three wrote. "Further, this incident continues a disturbing pattern of unsafe practices at the AROCC facility."
The 25,000-square-foot facility, which opened in 2010, is designed to hold detainees for short periods before deportation or transfer to longer-term facilities. Its stated capacity is 157 detainees. On the night of the pepper-spray incident, 332 detainees were being held there. The room where the spray was deployed has a capacity of no more than two dozen; nearly 50 were reportedly inside at the time.
ICE previously told the Arizona Mirror that officers deployed oleoresin capsicum spray after detainees repeatedly kicked a cell door, banged windows and exhibited aggressive behavior toward officers despite verbal commands to stop. One detainee was transported to East Valley Emergency Room for an asthma episode and released about an hour later. ICE said there was no evidence the asthma episode was caused by OC spray exposure given the detainee's pre-existing medical condition.
The incident occurred one week after a congressional oversight visit, prior to which ICE had moved detainees so that AROCC held some of its lowest numbers of the year. Last month, the three representatives made an unannounced visit to the facility and found detainees packed into holding rooms like sardines, with insufficient hygiene items and no medical staff on hand. Reports of the overcrowding have prompted the airport itself to warn the building's owners that the conditions could violate their lease.
The six demands in the congressional letter include incident reports, after-action reviews, medical assessments, surveillance footage and internal communications related to the pepper-spray incident; the occupancy of the room at the time of deployment; the total number of detainees at the facility that night; what ventilation, evacuation or decontamination procedures were followed; what specific conduct prompted the use of force and what de-escalation techniques were attempted; and all policies and training materials on the use of pepper spray in enclosed or overcrowded settings.
Stanton, Ansari and Grijalva are demanding a response from ICE and DHS by the end of May.
Sources
Every factual claim in this article traces to one of the sources below. See how we work for the editorial process.
- azmirror.com retrieved 16/05/2026 18:58
Authored by The Scottsdale Signal. Drafted by AI from primary-source material under our beat-specific editorial guides; reviewed by humans before publish under our five-gate process. Sources retrieved at 16/05/2026 18:58. Every claim traces to a source.
