The following is an original production of AZPM News.

Today on The Press Room we talk with 7th District Congresswoman Adelita Grijalva about immigration, water issues and more.

Plus a focus on culture: Our panel will discuss the future for shows at Tucson's historic Berger Performing Arts Center on the city's west side.

It's all on The Press Room, starting now.

[Music] Adelita Grijalva joined the 119th United States Congress on November 12, 2025 and it is safe to say there has not been a quiet day since.

She won a special election to the 7th Congressional District seat.

Her swearing-in was delayed for more than seven weeks.

We witnessed her consequential vote on releasing the Epstein Files and now it's immigration, and leading the fight for southern Arizona families.

Congresswoman Grijalva, thank you for being with us on The Press Room.

Thank you for having me.

Pleasure to be here.

Now you've made several visits to ICE facilities, Immigration and Customs Enforcem finding out about conditions there and what the detainees are dealing with?

There are some inhumane conditions depending on where I visited.

Some of the most egregious was at the facility in Mesa where people were jammed together like sardines and if everyone was asked to sit down they would be sitting two and three people on top of each other.

You know we are seeing an increased number of people that are doing hunger strikes because of the conditions and because of the food and water.

Water that is dirty and has, I mean, visibly doesn't look like drinking water that would be safe to drink and some pretty horrible food conditions where people are being served rotten food.

This frustrates me so much because the facility in Dilley, for example, where I went to visit with Representative Castro a couple weeks ago in Dilley, Texas, that is a facility that gets $15 million a month from our federal government.

So for about 400 people that's about $37,500 per person per month.

And when you hear that people don't have, you know, food that they can eat and fresh water and everyone is getting sick, that should really make everyone very angry.

And those are the conditions that people are living through every day.

You helped bring some national attention to the Karla Toledo case.

Yeah.

She's a DACA recipient whom ICE agents arrested at her home and took her to a detention center in Eloy.

What is the best way for those who are demanding accountability to keep the pressure on Immigration and Customs Enforcement?

I think you keep the pressure on by drawing more attention to it.

I feel very strongly that in her case there was such a quick response because of some amazing legal work by her attorney Mo Goldman, but also because there was a tremendous pressure put on by me visiting, but by the people that were standing outside saying this is unjust and it's unfair.

Knowing that she is a director of recruitment for a company that serves, that trains health care providers.

I mean, a very important job.

And she's contributed to our community every day that she's been here since the age when she was brought here by her mom of one.

This is the only country that she knows and she's done everything possible to do it, the legal process, that this country has outlined.

So for her to be picked up and detained for any period of time is completely unacceptable and illegal.

But then the fact that they released her on the lowest possible bond that you can have, fifteen hundred dollars.

So it's a clear indication that the fact that one, they shouldn't have detained her.

But I mean, if you think of the emotional toll and heartache that she had to go through, that her family had to go through to not feel safe in your own home.

That is, that shakes your foundation.

And when I got to the facility and was able to talk to her very briefly, because you know, she that is not a facility that people normally visit.

They told me that I could go in and do, you know, oversight and make sure she was OK.

And then I couldn't really talk to her.

I couldn't talk to her face to face.

We talked through a detention door, like a, you know, plexiglass detention door.

But I asked her if she was OK.

And I know she teared up and said that she's physically OK.

But I, you know, because the way she was taken out and dragged out of her home, I just wanted to reassure her mom who was and who were outside crying, her family was outside crying that she was OK.

Yeah, it's heartbreaking.

And one of the experiences that will stay with me for a very long time.

But every time I go into these spaces, it it it shocks me how anyone can work in those environments knowing that they're treating people worse than they do animals.

It is the nature of our business that we explore these specific cases, knowing that there are many others who are in similar situations.

What do we do to help all of those who face the same sort of situation as that Karla Toledo found herself in?

What would be very helpful is with your member of Congress, fill out the paperwork that is necessary to allow your Congressional offices or your your Senate offices to look into your case.

That was one of the things that I took to Karla is waivers to allow our office to look into her case.

And I could I left them there, but she couldn't get them to me.

And we were never told they were filled out so I could pick them up or our office could pick them up.

So that paperwork is really critically important.

So you have that and keep it with someone that you trust and also look at the fact that I believe it expires every three months.

So refresh that.

Make sure that it is paperwork that you keep with your other important documents.

That's really important.

And then, you know, continue to schedule the appointments if you are a DACA recipient.

Schedule those appointments.

I know that they're getting delayed, but just continue to prove that you're doing your part in order to, you know, keep current with your permit.

All right.

Now, Arizona and the other states collecting water from the Colorado River have still not reached an agreement on who gets what and by and how much water they get.

What can you tell us about the Seventh District's needs for water and how this agreement whenever it's reached, may affect our region?

Yeah, you know, the the interesting thing is these delivery obligations are from 1922.

And so we have to understand that things have changed.

And when you look at the, what I've heard about how the negotiations are progressing, the upper basin doesn't change a lot of their water consumption.

But the lower basin states, including Arizona, are the ones that are going to have to do a lot more, do the same amount or more with less water.

And so that's something that I'm I know that is currently being negotiated right now.

The lower basin have agreed to less to annual reductions.

We've agreed to annual reductions.

But what I've heard from like, even just a day before yesterday, you know, we went and visited a winery in Sonoita, and they were talking to me about how they are growing their fruit that is more resilient, needs less water, that they're picking crops that it makes sense for this area, but that there are other property owners that have that use an incredible amount of water and all of the resources and what they grow goes out of the country or out of the state.

And so these local smaller farmers are doing their part with the amount of water, making sure that every drop is used more than once.

But in the case of the winery that I went and looked at, they're doing so much with how they're infiltrating water into the roots and using less.

That's what we've been doing.

And everyone needs to do their part because it should not be on one on the lower basin states or one state to do conservation that we all have to understand that we are in a drought and the upper basin needs to do their part too.

Members of Congress are in the situation that they're having to react to things that the administration has been doing for the past year.

Let's take tariffs, for example.

How is that affecting us in southern Arizona?

And what are you hearing from constituents?

So it is affecting us in a lot in a number of ways.

For the average consumer who goes to the grocery store, you can see that we have less options of fruits and vegetables variety and the cost of everything is a lot more.

When we go to, let's say, just in the example of Dos Cabezas, the winery, they're a local winery.

So they don't import on an everyday, they're not importing their grapes or whatever.

But what they are importing is the glasses, the glass bottles for the wine and the big barrels that you hold the wine.

All of those are from different places.

And so when your bill is different from one month to the next by $10,000, how do we expect small businesses to be able to absorb those?

And then sometimes you have to buy so much of a product in order to make it make sense to buy that much in bulk so you won't have to do it again.

But sometimes it's just not a possibility.

So we're seeing businesses close.

We're seeing customers spend less, which means all of the service industries, restaurants, they're all feeling a drop and having to let employees go.

So the ripple effects are pretty significant.

And I think we can all see very clearly now that those tariffs didn't punish the country that is sending any of the products.

We're the ones, consumers and the businesses locally are the ones paying the price.

Let's go to another topic.

You are outspoken regarding a Republican backed bill that would make teachers identify and reveal transgender students.

There are also budget cuts that are facing Bisbee's public library and their staff.

And that library happens to have hosted drag story times.

Yeah.

How are you putting these issues front and center in a Washington climate that is more and more consumed by issues like war and of course, the national economy?

I think that I try to bring the stories of what's happening in Southern Arizona to DC any opportunity I can.

That's why I visit so much of Southern Arizona, go to every corner of this district, because I want to hear those stories.

So when I went and visited the Bisbee Library and saw the amazing programs that they do, not just for Bisbee, but for all of the rural community around Bisbee and what a resource that library is, when they put forward a request for congressional direct spending, and just to be real clear, every office gets about $13 million.

Every week and put forward 20 proposals.

And Bisbee Library was one of my favorites.

It was for infrastructure, for a roof.

I mean, it totally qualified and it goes to the committee, the Agriculture Committee to look over all the projects.

And they, of 500 projects, refused to.

And one of them was this Bisbee library because they hosted two drag story times, one in 2019 and one in 2024.

And the explanation provided by the Republican majority was completely unacceptable.

And so I continue to say, I want you to fund my project.

Because this project was for basic repairs for like a valuable institution in Bisbee in rural Arizona.

And it's interesting, we were talking about earlier that the priorities are on this direction and maybe not in others.

Right.

Well, what I find very interesting is with the GOP in general, the party, they've always claimed to be a party of less government, smaller government.

And what I find fascinating is that you want less government in some areas, but then in others, when it comes to education or a person's sexuality or how people identify or individual rights, all of a sudden, you want to get involved and try to legislate all of that.

And to me, that's just so hypocritical.

You know, this is this right now, people are feeling that their own that their democracy is at stake.

And I agree with that.

You described earlier about the people you've spoken to during this particular visit, the issues you've been able to confront, the conversations you've been able to have.

When you go back to Washington, how much of it is a feeling that there's so much more to do that you can do?

Yeah, no, we it fuels my fight to talk to people who need me to be an advocate for them.

And it really is very touching and moving when people talk to you about what their hopes and dreams are and what their fears are.

And we start to think about like, what kind of legislation can I introduce to make it easier?

And there are some ideas that come out literally organically from those conversations.

And so that is incredibly valuable to me.

I represent Southern Arizona.

I don't represent anybody else.

So in this community in CD7, the ideas that come out of our office are direct result of those conversations.

Very good.

Seventh District Congresswoman Adelita Grijalva, thank you very much for being with us on The Press Room.

Thank you so much for having me.

We'll be back with members of our journalist panel right after this.

His concert residency at Madison Square Garden began in 2014.

A decade later, Billy Joel gave his 100th performance.

His greatest songs.

Billy Joel, the 100th live at Madison Square Garden.

Welcome back to The Press Room.

Now let's check out what's happening in arts and culture in Tucson and Southern Arizona.

We have our panelists here in The Press Room, Cathy Burch with the Arizona Daily Star.

And Thatcher Warrick Hess with AZPM News.

Thanks for being with us today on The Press Room.

The Berger Performing Arts Center is located on the campus of the Arizona School for the Deaf and Blind.

It's a location that some who are new in the community may not be familiar with.

Cathy, it's got a long history, but everything's going to change now that the school is relocating.

What's going to happen with the Berger Center?

Well, the Saguaro City Music Theater Program is going to, they've just signed a lease for that space.

And so the way it's going to work, my understanding is that they will have use of the facility and they also will open it up to other arts organizations to use it.

And that's only going to be a year.

So it's going to give the venue at least another year serving the community.

Thatcher, the School for the Deaf and Blind has a strong connection to the center.

You did a story with us on AZPM about one of their last performances.

What was that like?

Yeah, it was my first time actually being at the Berger Center and it was the Wizard of Oz, right?

So they put on a production.

I sat through the entire 65-minute production and it was wonderful.

I actually just spoke with Dena DiGiacinto from Saguaro City and talked to her about that.

I had recently seen the Wizard of Oz in a production weeks prior.

And so having that kind of comparison, it really struck a chord because again, having Dorothy say there's no place like home meant a lot more for that time for the Berger Arts and what was going on with ASDB.

So this is such a great kind of, as she said, like a new chapter for the place to have more venues and more productions next year.

And Cathy, for those groups to perform at the center, what's next for them?

What alternative venues can they have?

You know, there's not a lot because the Berger Center, the thing that worked for that is that it's under 500 seats and the, using it for a community organization was a lot cheaper than if they were to go to the Leo Rich, which is a similar sized venue because this Leo Rich is owned by the city and the rents are a heck of a lot more expensive.

But you would have organizations like in concert, Don Gest program where he brought in international groups, a lot of Celtic groups.

They would use that small theater productions.

And ironically, the Society of American Magicians chapter in Tucson, that was their regular home for years.

And they would put on their annual showcase and that it would sell out.

I mean, you know, Tucson used to be this incredible magic town.

And so they would have these magic showcases with tons of, you know, dozens of magicians and people would just love it.

And that was a perfect venue for that.

So I'm not sure.

I mean, they're going to have to figure a place where they can balance the budgets, you know, as far as charging ticket prices and paying those those rents.

So it's going to be it's going to be a challenge.

A lot of them though, are going over to the Fox and collaborating with the Fox and just expanding their programming.

Like In Concert is doing that and Rhythm and Roots.

So it'll bring some of that culture back downtown.

Yeah, yeah.

And it's already happening.

I mean, I think they saw the writing on the wall and it's already happening.

And some of them also are going to La Rosa.

You know, you have the Rhythm and Roots concert series, which is in its final year is, is has been doing all of their their programming at La Rosa.

Now let's talk about one of the year's biggest cultural and sports events that has a Tucson connection.

Thatcher, you've been following the saga of the Iranian national soccer team and its hopes to train for the 2026 FIFA World Cup at Kino Sports Complex.

What is the latest on that story?

Well, every day it seems to change.

The latest is that they are not going to train at Kino Sports Complex.

Instead, they'll train at a sport complex that I think is still going to be announced, but in Tijuana, Mexico.

And this announced, you know, it was right before Memorial Day on Saturday, right?

The Soccer Federation president, Mehdi Taj, announced that the FIFA representatives had agreed to their relocation and then said, you can move camps.

However, FIFA had not publicly released the information and told everyone that this change was happening.

And then further on, Sarah Hanna, who's the director of Kino Sports Complex, she was not notified until Memorial Day morning.

So she had to get articles that I was getting, she was like, 'it's still not confirmed.'

And then FIFA sat down with them on Monday to say, yeah, they are not going to come here.

And then, for, on top of that, not explaining why and not giving details.

And so the current kind of status is, you know, it's, you know, just was at the north, two north fields that were closed off for the training at Kino Sports Complex.

And they had flags, right?

You know, saying 2026 World Cup, they were super excited about it.

They had FIFA personnel checking the grass, making sure that it was world class and set up.

And all of that has to go away.

And then they're still kind of talking with FIFA representative as of now of what to do with all that.

Really interesting.

This has been going on for months and actually predates the war breaking out in Iran.

Yeah, it was February 20th, eight days before that it was officially announced here in the US.

But through Iranian media in actually a month earlier in mid-January, it was leaked.

And essentially the idea is that there's a whole list of different sports complex sites.

And Iran actually chose Kino right out of that list.

And that discussion happened in January, and then it wasn't officially confirmed until February.

And then to add onto that, the missiles launched on Tehran on February 28th added a much more complexity.

So for the past two weeks, I've been speaking with Persians who live here in Tucson and hearing their perspectives, kind of the before and after.

What were they thinking?

How would this impact Tucson when they got here?

And then to hear the news, a lot of them said, I actually kind of saw this coming.

This does not surprise me.

A bit of a missed opportunity for Tucson.

Iran's team would have put a massive spotlight on this area.

Cathy, what is the city losing in terms of the local economy and general prestige?

General prestige, I mean, they would have been on the world stage, you know, which we've been on before, but this would have been a whole different audience seeing Tucson.

Financially, my understanding is like Westward Look, apparently Westward Look was going to be the hotel for the team.

And so it was booked for a month solid.

So that's a huge economic punch, gut punch for them.

You're also looking at restaurants that were probably anticipating this was going to be this relief because Tucson summertime restaurants get hit really, really hard.

And this could have been some incredible relief for them.

So I think it's going to be an impact all across the board when you're looking at every aspect of life and economy in Tucson.

Absolutely.

And to add on to that too, I just spoke with a Persian restaurant owner of Just Kabab in Oro Valley.

He was saying the same thing.

He wanted to host the team when they got here.

So now that this news has resurfaced, it's definitely questioned a lot of really how are they going to react with this news?

World Cup action will be starting on June the 11th in the United States, in Mexico, and in Canada.

Iran a very good soccer team in the tournament.

You said Thatcher, they're going to be in Tijuana training.

That's right.

And they're also the first one of the very first teams to qualify for the World Cup.

So I mean, there's still some, as of a couple weeks ago, which team was going to be in which group and the fact that Iran was first.

It's definitely been a conversation, as you said, for such a long time.

All right.

Now moving on, there's two notable music educators at the University of Arizona who are retiring.

Thomas Cockrell has been orchestra director.

He's retiring after 26 years.

Choral Director Elizabeth Schauer is retiring after 22 years.

Cathy, that's a lot of time for of musicians and aspiring students and aspiring - musicians at the University.

- Well, and what's interesting is that if you look at Betsy Schauer, her impact went so beyond the U of A campus.

I mean, she organized the musical murals program, which was, it was short-lived.

It was two or three years, but that was incredible.

They had all these performing arts students who would be in front of murals performing, and you would do this walk around downtown, this mural walk.

It was just really amazing.

And she also was the founder of the Sing In, the Tucson Big Sing, which, you know, brought all the community together.

And she encouraged people, even if you can sing, come and, you know, join your voices.

And that was something that ran for six or seven years.

Took a two-year hiatus during the pandemic for obvious reasons, but I mean, that was incredible.

And then you look at Cockrell, Thomas Cockrell, he raised the bar when it comes to the quality of the Arizona Symphony.

And, you know, and also the quality of conductors.

He has trained some of the most amazing conductors, including Keitaro Harada.

And Keitaro Harada, you know, came out of the U of A directing or conducting program.

And he's gone on.

He is now the conductor of the Savannah Philharmonic.

He also conducts, is a guest conductor in his native Tokyo.

He's just, and occasionally he comes back here to Tucson when he comes and leads the TSO.

They sell out.

People absolutely love him.

And so, I mean, the loss of both of these people is going to be significant.

And so hopefully big shoes to fill.

Big, big shoes.

All right.

That's going to be all the time we're going to have for The Press Room.

Cathy Burch with the Arizona Daily Star.

Thank you very much.

And Thatcher Warrick Hess, AZPM News.

That'll do it.

Thanks to our guests, for all the staff and crew at The Press Room.

Thanks for being with us.

And we'll see you next week.

When you want news that matters to you, turn to AZPM News.

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