Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes wildly suggested that residents can open fire on masked ICE agents if they feel their life is in danger under the state’s self-defense laws.
The Democrat, in a sit-down with 12 News anchor Brahm Resnik, warned that Arizona’s “Stand Your Ground” law, which allows citizens to use deadly force if they believe they’re in imminent danger, could become a “recipe for disaster” if protesters clash with immigration officers.
“It’s kind of a recipe for disaster because you have these masked federal officers with very little identification, sometimes no identification, wearing plain clothes and masks,” Mayes said in the Monday interview, calling ICE “very poorly trained.”
“And we have a Stand Your Ground law that says that if you reasonably believe that your life is in danger and you’re in your house or your car or on your property, that you can defend yourself with lethal force.”
A flabbergasted Resnik repeatedly challenged Mayes, cautioning that her remarks could be interpreted as a “license” to residents to shoot a federal agent.
She shot back that she was merely stating a “fact,” not encouraging violence.
“If you’re being attacked by someone who is not identified as a peace officer — how do you know?” the state’s top prosecutor pressed, adding that “real cops don’t wear masks.”
“I mean if somebody comes at me wearing a mask, by the way, I’m a gun owner, and I can’t tell whether they’re a police officer, what am I supposed to do? No, I’m not suggesting people pull out their guns, but this is a don’t tread on me state.”
The attorney general, who was elected in 2022, unleashed her jaw-dropping comments as immigration officers begin to spread into parts of the Grand Canyon State.
She vowed to prosecute any ICE agent who violates state laws after operations in Minnesota sparked widespread unrest when an federal officer fatally shot protester Renee Nicole Good when she clipped him with her car during a heated confrontation on Jan. 7.
Arizona GOP Rep. David Schweikert blasted the attorney general, calling her rhetoric “reckless.”
“Let’s not pretend this was some careful legal seminar,” the gubernatorial candidate wrote on X.
“This was the attorney general of Arizona freelancing a scenario where bullets start flying and then shrugging it off as ‘just the law.’ That is reckless on its face. If your job is to enforce the law, you do not go on TV and hand out a permission structure for violence, then act surprised when people hear it as a green light.
“Words matter. Especially when they come from the state’s top lawyer.”
The Department of Homeland Security has accused liberal leaders of stoking the flames, repeatedly urging them to dial back their blistering rhetoric amid an alarming uptick in violence against officers.
Vice President JD Vance reiterated the request, pressing local officials to “tone down the temperature” during a visit to Minneapolis, where protests have rocked the city since Good’s death.
“This is direct threat calling for violence against our law enforcement officers — this kind of rhetoric is going to get someone killed,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told The Post in a statement Thursday night.
“Kris Mayes should be thanking our federal law enforcement for removing these pedophiles, murderers, terrorists, and drug traffickers from their communities—not inciting violence against them.”
Mayes is up for reelection in November.
