
Chris Mayes, Arizona’s attorney general, has vowed to fight the incoming Trump administration on key aspects of immigration policy, including any attempt to establish deportation camps on Arizona soil or remove thousands of “Dreamer” immigrants who have come to the United States. children.
In an interview with The Guardian, Mayes said that any move by Donald Trump in his second presidential term to revoke the rights of Dreamers to stay and work in the United States would be a “bright red line for me.” “I will not stand in the way of any attempt to deport them or undermine them.”
Arizona, an important border state that will be on the front line in the fight over Trump’s plans for mass deportations, has more than 30,000 Dreamers, undocumented immigrants who entered the United States illegally as children but were granted rights under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). ). ). The program was introduced by Barack Obama in 2012, but has come under relentless attack from Republicans since then.
“I will definitely fight on behalf of the Dreamers,” Mayes said. “These people are firefighters, police officers, teachers — they are part of the fabric of our state and we will protect them.”
Trump tried to revoke DACA protections during his first presidency, and was only stopped by a limited ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court. He recently softened his stance, saying NBC News He wants to find a way to allow Dreamers to stay in the country, although his apparent U-turn has left many skeptical of his intentions.
DACA is already being challenged by Republican states in a lawsuit currently before the ultra-conservative Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. The case is almost certain to reach the Supreme Court, which has a large majority of six to three right-wing justices.
Despite the obstacles facing the Dreamers, Mayes said she remains optimistic.
“I think the Supreme Court will eventually see the merits of protecting them.” “We want to give the courts the opportunity to make the right decision here, and we will make very strong arguments on this proposal,” she said.
Arizona’s attorney general also had strong words about any attempt by Trump to build concentration camps in her state as part of his plans to mass deport millions of illegal immigrants. She said her army of lawyers is also prepared to back away from any move to renew family separation, the policy under which thousands of children have been taken from their parents at the Mexican border as part of a “zero tolerance” strategy.
“If Trump tries to engage in family separation, or build mass deportation camps, I will do everything I can legally to fight that. “This does not happen in Arizona, nor does it happen on our land,” she said.
Mayes added that the family separation – which even left him 1000 families Still a tenant six years later — it was “essentially anathema to Arizonans.”
Mayes and her team have been preparing for months for the expected whirlwind of activity once Trump returns to the White House on January 20. They “researched,” as she put it, the 2025 Project, the right-wing playbook for Trump’s second term, compiled by the Heritage Foundation.
She also works closely with the state’s other Democratic attorneys general, noting that between them they filed more than 100 lawsuits during Trump’s first presidency, winning 80% of them.
“One of our strengths is that we do it together a lot, we are united and organized,” Mayes said.
The importance of cooperation between countries is likely to be more important regarding border issues.
Mays said she was working with her Democratic counterparts Rob Bonta of California and Raul Torrez of New Mexico — with Texas’ Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton, who takes a very different, anti-immigrant approach.
“Three of the four border states have their attorneys general in Democratic hands and we will fight for due process and for individual rights,” she explained.
One complicating factor is Proposition 314, a ballot measure that passed in Arizona in November with a resounding 63% of the vote. It allows state police to arrest any undocumented person crossing into the United States outside legal ports of entry.
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Mays said the decision will not deter her from resisting Trump’s unconstitutional moves.
“Proposition 314 tells us that Arizonans are tired of dysfunctional borders,” she said.
“We are facing a serious fentanyl crisis in our state, and there is no doubt that Arizonans want to address our borders. But when Arizonans voted for Donald Trump, they did not vote to tear up the Constitution of Arizona and the United States — and I firmly believe that.”
What was needed at the border were more federal resources to increase the number of border patrols on the ground, enhance fentanyl interdiction, and strengthen the prosecution of drug cartels. What was not needed, Mayes insisted, was Trump’s plan, which threatened to send in the National Guard and even the US Army to act as a reinforced deportation force.
“There is nothing more un-American than using the military against Americans,” she said. “It’s clearly unconstitutional, and it’s not something Arizonans want to see.”
Since her election to Arizona’s top law enforcement official in 2022, Mayes has established herself as a rising star in the Democratic Party capable of negotiating the sometimes fraught politics of a border state. Its most notable work came in April when it charged 18 people, including former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani and former chief of staff Mark Meadows, with participating in the 2020 “fake voters” conspiracy.
A similar trial of fake voters in Georgia was recently overturned after an appeals court disqualified the Atlanta prosecutor in charge of the case, Fannie Willis.
Mayes told The Guardian that despite Trump’s victory in November, she does not intend to drop the issue of fake voters. “These indictments were handed down by a state grand jury, and justice cannot be achieved by a popular vote. The case is now in the courts, and there it will remain until it is over.”
Such a high-profile trial could put her in the crosshairs of Kash Patel, Trump’s pick for FBI director. If the US Senate confirms Patel to this position, he has made clear that he will continue retaliatory investigations against those considered enemies of Trump.
Mayes did not want to discuss Patel’s nomination. But she said, “I’m not afraid of anyone. I’m going to do my job, uphold the law and protect the people of Arizona. I’ll do that no matter who’s at the top of the FBI.”