‘Idiots’: Massive Drug Bust Impeded By Anti-ICE Protesters, Sheriff Says

Anti-ICE protesters got in the way of a drug bust targeting a former cartel member in Tucson, Arizona, on Wednesday night, according to Pinal County Sheriff Ross Teeple.

Teeple told local outlet 13 News on Thursday that a group of protesters stood between federal and local law enforcement officers and a home where over 120 pounds of fentanyl, 20 pounds of meth, and 30 pounds of cocaine were seized. The suspect, an illegal immigrant and former cartel member, according to authorities, was also taken into custody. Teeple said that the protesters disrupted the joint federal and local law enforcement operation, which was carried out with a search warrant.

“These individuals, the ‘protesters,’ actually blocked a Pinal County Sheriff’s Office tow truck from removing the suspect’s vehicle from a criminal investigation,” Teeple said.

“These idiots came out and protested us getting 5 million fentanyl pills off the streets, 32 pounds of cocaine off the streets, 22 pounds of methamphetamines off the streets,” he added. “They don’t have individual thought, they have group think.”

Some of the protesters who showed up in the usually quiet Tucson neighborhood on Wednesday were previously at a demonstration at an ICE facility that devolved into violence, according to authorities, 13 News reported.

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“Even when it was explained to them that this was a criminal case, where we were taking a criminal drug smuggler, a known felon off the street and keeping the community safe, they still sat there and protested because they don’t have an independent thought,” the sheriff said.

According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Tucson Police Department was called to assist with crowd control so authorities could carry out the warrant for the drug bust. Tucson Police Chief Chad Kasmar said officers tried to explain the situation to the group of demonstrators.

“We took the time to tell them and reiterate, this is not an immigration warrant. It was narcotics-related,” Kasmar said.

Anti-ICE demonstrators have impeded federal immigration officers during raids in other parts of the country. Earlier this week, protesters threw themselves on top of ICE vehicles during a raid at a meatpacking plant in Omaha, Nebraska. In L.A., protesters tried to stop ICE SUVs from leaving a place where agents had conducted a raid.

Protests and riots have hit cities across the country after anti-ICE agitators attacked federal, state, and local authorities in Los Angeles last weekend. The riots led to President Donald Trump calling in the National Guard and Marines to L.A., which enraged Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and L.A. Mayor Karen Bass. Republican governors in Texas and Missouri also mobilized the National Guard in their states ahead of planned anti-ICE demonstrations this weekend.