An Inland Empire lawmaker is demanding answers after she said “chemical agents” were used against her and members of Congress who were illegally denied access to a federal building.
In a Thursday, June 12, letter, Rep. Norma Torres, D-Pomona, said she went to the emergency room and must take medication after the Saturday, June 7, incident at the Roybal Federal Building in downtown Los Angeles.
The letter to Acting Director of U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement Todd Lyons seeks “prompt answers” as to why chemicals were used, who ordered their use and why Torres’ delegation was denied entry to Roybal.
ICE media contacts did not immediately respond Thursday afternoon to emails seeking comment.
According to Torres, four members of Congress went to Roybal at 8:30 a.m. Saturday seeking information about people in federal immigration custody at the building.
In her letter, Torres wrote the visit stemmed from “reports of violent encounters involving ICE agents and unidentified bystanders during raids at multiple locations in Los Angeles County, as well as reports of dangerous overcrowding at the facility.”
The 15 or so people in the delegation, according to Torres, included members of Congress, their staff, lawyers, media and representatives of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights and the Central American Resource Center.
“Rather than accommodating the request, as required under law, we were denied access to the facility under a false pretext,” Torres said. “Contrary to ICE’s public claim that over 1,000 protesters were present, this was a small, peaceful delegation.”
The “false characterization” of the delegation “appears designed to justify the dangerous and unjustified deployment of chemical agents — multiple times,” Torres wrote.
Torres’ letter didn’t specify what chemicals were used.
“As a result of ICE’s actions, I was admitted to the Emergency Room for respiratory treatment, observation and now must take medication.”
Members of Congress have a legal right to visit federal detention facilities, Torres wrote. She added that no one helped people who dropped off medication for those being detained in Roybal.
https://www.dailybulletin.com/2025/06/12/inland-rep-norma-torres-says-she-was-hospitalized-after-chemical-agents-used-on-congress-members/