Many of the Zipps Sports Grill locations across the Valley were raided on Monday by Homeland Security Investigations agents, resulting in dozens of arrests.

On Wednesday, protests broke out after raids at multiple Zipps Sports Grill locations.

A spokesperson with the Department of Homeland Security reportedly announced 35 people suspected of being in the country illegally were arrested, but no details were provided on the individuals or the specific arrests.

According to a statement from HSI, the raid was part of a months-long criminal investigation with other federal partners.

One veteran Valley police officer told Northeast Valley News on the condition of anonymity that the Zipps raids and other recent federal immigration events have produced “chatter” among fellow officers that’s characterized by a degrading of the work of local police, negatively affecting local police officers’ image and the community’s trust in them.

“As a police officer for more than twenty years in the Valley—organizationally—local law enforcement is frustrated with the friction and the lack of trust occurring within our communities as a result of the current immigration methods and actions.”

“The message to law enforcement in some of the cities that went out to assist at the Zipps was not to be involved in enforcing federal laws but to be there knowing that the community has a right to protest, has a right to see—and to help everything as much as we can to be done peacefully.”

“It’s frustrating because over the last four years in our state, there’s been a move for transparency and police officers have worked very hard to develop and implement this policy.”

The officer explained that there’s also a message from leadership to officers who work the street: they may encounter unwarranted negative feelings from people due to a current and growing distrust of all policing agencies.

Another veteran police officer told Northeast Valley News on the condition of anonymity that they were once part of their community outreach and worked specifically with at-risk youth and the “youth experience” education program and relationship building with community police.

“People do not trust us, many fear us, and this is something that is getting worse as these federal ICE encounters grow more violent.”

“We are also concerned, as law enforcement, about a general lack of reporting criminal activity out of fear due to current immigration policies.”

Following the raids, protestors showed up at several of the Valley Zipps locations and organizers and leaders held a rally and called for an “end to ICE raids” and demanded accountability. Today, the Zipps Sports Bars are closed Valley-wide.

There’s no indication as to when they will open.

A woman who was outside the closed Zipps Sports Bar near Park Central downtown on Wednesday told Northeast Valley News she was near one of the Zipps raids and recounted the disbelief among people at how frightening and callous the federal agents were to the people they were making demands on.

“A girl was sobbing, absolutely terrified, and the agents kept grabbing her arm without any regard for her fear.”

Speakers at the rally were calling on Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego and Gov. Katie Hobbs, both Democrats, to stand up to ICE and force the agency out of our state.

Reportedly, the Zipps raids were not carried out by ICE but rather by an ongoing HSI investigation.

Gov. Hobbs posted on X, that she’s gathering details about the raids and criticized the Trump administration for not giving her office enough notice about the searches.

Zipps provided the following statement in response to HSI’s Wednesday update:

We have seen the statement attributed to ICE. At this time, Zipps has not been provided with any charging documents or detailed information beyond what has been publicly released by federal authorities. We are cooperating fully with law enforcement. Because the matter is ongoing, we are not in a position to comment further.