Anti-ICE Activists Mistakenly Protest Major Drug Bust In Arizona

TUCSON: A group of roughly 100 “No Kings” protesters booed local law enforcement carrying out a raid on a drug trafficker’s hideout on June 12, mistakenly believing the officers were part of U.S. Immigration Enforcement and Customs (ICE) deporting illegal aliens.

“Go home and tell your families what you do for a living,” one protester shouted at sheriff’s deputies, followed by a chant from demonstrators wielding “Abolish ICE” signs: “Hey hey, ho ho, ICE and cops have got to go!”

Pinal County Co. Sheriff Ross Teeple, who led the search, called them “idiots” in a phone interview with Restoration News.

“The raid actually occurred in Pima County, a sanctuary county with a more liberal bent than Pinal, where we like our water like we like our neighborhood: With a lot of ICE,” Sheriff Teeple explained. “This raid began six months ago. We developed a contact leading to a search warrant to track this cartel member to his home in Pima County.”

Officers from both counties seized cash, 5 million fentanyl pills, 32 pounds of cocaine, 22 pounds of methamphetamines, and illegal handguns from the cartel member, who is allegedly an illegal alien previously deported from the U.S. Homeland Security has not yet released the suspect’s identity.

Sheriff Teeple told Restoration News the protesters may have coordinated their demonstration using an app or via text message, and believes it was part of a larger protest at a nearby ICE facility in Tucson. Reports show officers responded to vandalism nearby reading “DEATH TO USA” and “ACAB”—which stands for All Cops Are Bastards.

“The height of idiocy in this protest is that they blocked the road so a tow truck—clearly marked as a ‘Pinal County’ vehicle—pulling the dealer’s vehicle couldn’t leave the scene. That’s the vehicle he used to transport drugs,” Sheriff Teeple explained. Officers following Teeple’s “ask, tell, make” policy were able to peacefully remove protesters, however.