Arizona AG Doubles Down on ICE Comments: ‘I Will Not Be Deterred’

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes (D) doubled down amid backlash over her ICE comments saying, “I will not be deterred.”

Breitbart News reported that, last week, Mayes told 12 News she does not consider ICE “officers” to be “real law enforcement.”

She specifically put the word “officers” in quotation marks and explained, “I put that in air quotes because I don’t think they are real law enforcement.”

Mayes discussed Arizona’s “Stand Your Ground” law later in the interview, saying, “You have these masked, federal officers with very little identification — sometimes no identification — wearing plain clothes and masks and we have a ‘Stand Your Ground’ law that says if you reasonably believe your life is in danger and you’re in your house or in your car or on your property, that you can defend yourself with lethal force.”

Mayes added, “It’s a fact that we have a ‘Stand Your Ground’ law and, in other states, un-uniformed, masked people who can’t be identified as police officers.”

Office holders, including Senate Majority Leader John Kavanaugh (R) and Reps. Andy Biggs (R) and Abe Hamadeh, blasted Mayes over the comments.

Biggs said the comments amount to “fantasizing about violent radicals shooting ICE agents” and Hamadeh posted to X:

On January 25, 2026, FOX 10 Phoenix quoted Mayes, responding to the criticism, saying, “I will not be deterred from speaking out or criticizing the Trump administration for its ongoing abuses of power and its trashing of our sacred Constitution.”

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He holds a PhD in Military History with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on X: @awrhawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.