(The Center Square) – Senate Majority Leader John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, called on Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes to resign after he said people who feel they are in danger are legally allowed to shoot masked federal law enforcement officers.
Mayes made the comments in an interview with 12News, where he said, “We have a Stand Your Ground law that says if you reasonably believe your life is in danger and you’re in your home, car or property, you can defend yourself with deadly force.”
Mayes told news outlets that he is not advocating shooting law enforcement. However, she asked, “How do you know they’re peace officers? That’s the key… If you’re attacked by someone who’s not identified as a peace officer, how do you know?”
Kavanagh told The Center Square that Mayes’ comments that people can “legally shoot law enforcement officers if their faces are covered and they’re wearing non-traditional SWAT uniforms are false.”
He added that this comment by the attorney general was “irresponsible and inflammatory”.
Her comments “put the lives of federal and local law enforcement officers involved in such a dangerous job at risk,” the state senator explained.
“He needs to retract his statement and resign in disgrace,” Kavanagh said.
“Kris Mayes is the top police officer in the state of Arizona. He just turned in drug cartel members [and] dangerous criminals a license to kill police officers,” he noted.
Kavanagh said if cartel members or dangerous criminals kill a police officer, they will use the attorney general’s comments as a “defense.”
“I don’t want to see Arizona’s top police officer as the star defense witness in a gang or drug cartel murder trial when they kill a cop,” Kavanagh told The Center Square.
According to Kavanagh, Democrats have “become so anti-immigration enforcement crazy that they will demonize immigration officers every chance they get.”
He described federal law enforcement officers as “sworn officers who have taken an oath to enforce immigration law, which is the law of the land.”
America’s immigration laws are democratic laws “that must be enforced,” Kavanagh explained.
“President Trump was elected because he said he would apply [immigration laws]and the Democrats lost because they opened the border to us,” he told The Center Square.
In addition to Kavanagh, U.S. Rep. Abe Hamadeh, R-Surprise, condemned Mayes’ statement.
“Kris Mayes’ comments justifying the killing of our ICE agents were reprehensible, but completely predictable. This is the natural consequence of elevating a far-left political activist to the top position in Arizona law enforcement,” he noted.
Hamadeh said nothing in Arizona’s Stand Your Ground Act gives citizens the right to use lethal force against law enforcement.
The executive director of the Arizona Police Association, an organization that represents more than 12,000 police officers, said law enforcement “is an inherently dangerous job,” but Mayes’ recent comments “have the potential to make it even more dangerous.”
“ICE agents are federal law enforcement officers carrying out the legal duties of the federal government. Speculating publicly about how someone could legally justify shooting an ICE agent sends a dangerous and irresponsible message, especially in an already tense and polarized environment,” Clure said.
“The words of elected officials matter. It only takes an unstable person to interpret such a comment as permission or encouragement to use deadly force against police officers,” he added.
In a video on Sunday, Mayes said “the idea that [she] would want the life of any member of law enforcement to be endangered is wrong and offensive.”
“It’s a total lie,” she added.
Mayes said the state’s residents “don’t want undercover agents entering their homes without warrants.” She called these actions “un-American” and threatening “the rights and safety of everyone in our state.”
“ICE’s behavior destroys public trust in law enforcement and puts every American, including local law enforcement, at risk. It will take years, if not decades, to undo the damage that has been done in the past 12 months,” Mayes said.
The Market Center reached out to Mayes’ office for comment, but he did not hear back by press time.
But Arizona Senate Democrats voiced their support for Mayes in a statement.
“Violence and mayhem are not welcome in Arizona,” the Democrats said. “Attorney General Kris Mayes knows this and is fighting to protect Arizonans in a new political reality where Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is increasingly comfortable violating the civil rights of American citizens and those here legally. This is about public safety, and Attorney Mayes is right.”
“The attorney general was describing our new legal reality — not encouraging anyone to harm law enforcement,” Senate Democrats continued. “She warns that unconstitutional and irresponsible procedures can create tragic events and that no one should have to guess whether the gunman breaking down their door is a criminal or a peace officer.”