Arizona's top law enforcement official said in a recent interview that he is not afraid to stand up to President-elect Trump on immigration.
Democratic Attorney General Chris Mays told Britain's Guardian that plans to build a concentration camp, previously called a “concentration camp,” in the Grand Canyon State cannot get off the ground.
Mays defended Dreamers, beneficiaries of the Obama-era DACA program, saying any attempt by the federal government to send them home would be a “red line for me.”
“I will not tolerate any attempt to deport them or undermine them,” Mays said. “We will do everything we can to fight the legal battle.” [family separation or construction of deportation camps].
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President Trump and Acting Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Thomas Homan meet during the Law Enforcement Roundtable on Sanctuary Cities in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on March 20, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Javin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
“It’s not on our soil.”
The nickname Dreamer comes from the DREAM Act, the Development, Relief, and Education of Alien Minors. The law was first introduced in 2001 by Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and the late Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and reintroduced by Durbin several subsequent Congresses. However, it was never passed into law.
More recently, proposed in 2023 Durbin and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of the Republican leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Former President Obama borrowed parts of the law when he enacted DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals).
Trump previously tried to eliminate DACA, but was stopped by the Supreme Court in DHS v. University of California.
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“Ultimately, I think the Supreme Court will decide on the merits of protecting them,” Mays said of Dreamers.
“We want to give the court the opportunity to make the right decision here, and we intend to make a very strong case on that proposal.”
In previous comments reported by the Arizona Mirror, Mays said the problem with mass deportation proposals by people like Trump and “border czar” Tom Homan is that they abuse the system. He said this could lead to.
Mays said he wants violent criminals and drug cartel members to be removed from the United States.
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Chris Mays (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)
In an interview with the Guardian, Mays acknowledged that border states are almost fully cooperating on immigration issues.
New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torres, California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Mays said they are “united,” and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is the only state attorney general not united. He added.
”[W]We are going to fight for due process and individual rights,” she said of herself, Torrez and Bonta.
Mays also acknowledged the fentanyl crisis and porous border and said Arizonans rightly want the border fixed.
She reportedly would spend more federal money on additional border security and prosecuting cartel associates, in contrast to President Trump's idea of using the National Guard to help deport illegal immigrants. He said that it should be done.
”[W]When Arizonans voted for Donald Trump, they weren't voting to shred the Arizona Constitution and the U.S. Constitution. [and] I strongly believe that,” she told the Guardian.
Fox News Digital reached out to Team Trump and some members of Arizona's Republican congressional delegation for comment on Mays' interview with the Guardian, but did not receive a response by press time.
