[1][2] Raúl Grijalva's father was a migrant worker from Mexico who entered the United States in 1945 through the Bracero Program and labored on southern Arizona ranches.

[11] From 1975 to 1986, Grijalva was the director of the El Pueblo Neighborhood Center, and in 1987, he was Assistant Dean for Hispanic Student Affairs at the University of Arizona.

[16][17] This federally recognized tribe has land that stretches from their reservation in Arizona across the U.S.-Mexico border into the Mexican state of Sonora, resulting in some of its members not being U.S.

[19] For his tenure as the chair of the House Natural Resources Committee in the 116th Congress, Grijalva earned an "A" grade from the nonpartisan Lugar Center's Congressional Oversight Hearing Index.

Moments after Grijalva finished speaking in support of certifying Arizona's votes, insurrectionists started banging on the doors of the House chambers.

[24] In February, Grijalva voted in support of the American Rescue Plan, which included a nationwide $15 federal minimum wage increase.

[26] Grijalva voted with President Joe Biden's stated position 100% of the time in the 117th Congress, according to a FiveThirtyEight analysis.

[29] Grijalva formerly co-chaired the Congressional Progressive Caucus with Mark Pocan, having been replaced by Pramila Jayapal after stepping down in order to chair the House Committee on Natural Resources.

From his position on the House Committee on Natural Resources—where he has been the top Democrat on the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands since 2007—he has led Democratic efforts to strengthen federal offshore oil drilling oversight since before the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill[45] and introduced a successful bill to create a permanent National Landscape Conservation System at the Bureau of Land Management.

[52] Grijalva often called for a withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and Iraq, and supports the wider implementation of the National Solidarity Program as a way to improve Afghans' economic and educational infrastructure.

[54] He was strongly critical of the Stupak-Pitts Amendment, which sought to place limits on taxpayer-funded abortions in the Affordable Health Care for America Act.

[64] On February 24, 2010, Grijalva wrote a letter signed by 18 other representatives calling for an investigation of the BP Atlantis offshore drilling platform due to whistleblower allegations that it was operating without approved safety documents.

[67] Grijalva has gained prominence as an outspoken critic of what he calls lax federal oversight of the oil drilling industry, and in late 2010 launched an investigation of the White House's handling of the Horizon spill and its aftermath.

[76] In 2011, Grijalva and Representatives Barbara Lee, Mike Honda, and Lynn Woolsey criticized Obama for failing to seek congressional authorization for military intervention in Libya,[77] and was one of the 70 Democrats to vote to defund the Libyan war.

[80][better source needed] In July 2019, Grijalva voted against a House resolution condemning the Global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement targeting Israel.

One of the recipients, University of Colorado Professor Roger Pielke Jr., responded that he had already testified to Grijalva's committee that he has received no funding from fossil fuel interests, and characterized the letter as part of a politically motivated "witch-hunt".

Margaret Leinen, the president of the American Geophysical Union, posted on her AGU blog that in requiring information of only a few scientists, based only on their scientific views, Grivalja's action was contrary to academic freedom: "We view the singling out of any individual or group of scientists by any entity – governmental, corporate or other – based solely on their interpretations of scientific research as a threat to that freedom.

[90][91] As co-chair of the Progressive Caucus, Grijalva was a prominent supporter of a public option throughout the debate over the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

[92] The House-approved Affordable Health Care for America Act included a public option, but the Senate version did not, and it was ultimately not a part of the final package.

Grijalva has largely been supportive of the ACA since its passage and argued the Supreme Court should not overturn it during a segment with Representative Peter Roskam, who opposed the law, on the PBS NewsHour on March 28, 2012.

[96][97] He opposed the expansion of a border fence, citing cost effectiveness concerns and potential damage to sensitive wildlife habitats.

Grijalva has criticized armed civilian groups that patrol the Mexican border, accusing them of racism, and has reportedly used demeaning language to describe them.

[8][99] On July 26, 2019, Grijalva, whose district runs along the U.S.–Mexico border, called Trump's emergency declaration a "pathetic attempt to circumvent Congress".

[103][104] Grijalva supports the sovereignty of Native American governments and advocates for a strong government-to-government relationship between Tribal Nations and the United States.

[105] He believes that Tribal Nations should receive the respect and authority they deserve in managing their lands and protecting their sacred and cultural sites.

[109][105] After the passage in April 2010 of Arizona's controversial SB 1070 law, which Grijalva saw as opening the door to racial profiling and granting traditionally federal immigration enforcement powers to local authorities,[110] he suggested that civic, religious, labor, Latino, and other like-minded organizations refrain from using Arizona as a convention site until the law was repealed.

[111] His opposition to SB 1070 and his suggestion of a boycott of Arizona were widely viewed as the reason for multiple subsequent death threats against him and his staff, which led to several office closures in 2010.

[112] When Judge Susan Bolton of the Arizona District Court enjoined major parts of the law[113] in July 2010, Grijalva ended his call for economic sanctions.

[114]He subsequently said that his economic strategy was not as effective as he hoped in changing other state lawmakers' minds, and that he would focus on legal remedies in the future.

[122] On July 3, 2024, Grijalva became the second House Democrat to publicly call for Joe Biden to withdraw from the 2024 United States presidential election.