AG Kris Mayes, Arizona’s top law enforcement official, sparked national outrage after publicly declaring citizens could shoot masked federal ICE agents and later shrug it off as “just the law.”
An Attorney General who sounds like an insurrectionist. When the attorney general of a U.S. state openly states citizens gun down federal officers, this is no longer politics, it is incitement to civil war. Stolen elections have consequences.
In a televised interview, Mayes warned that Arizona’s Stand Your Ground statute could justify lethal force against Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers if residents claim they felt threatened—effectively normalizing the idea of armed confrontations with federal agents.
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes @AZAGMayes just put ICE Agents lives in danger. She gave people the idea of how they can shoot ICE Agents. pic.twitter.com/iMlbGNFlJ2
— Garret Lewis (@GarretLewis) January 23, 2026
When pressed on whether her remarks amounted to a license to shoot federal officers, Mayes refused to back down, insisting she was merely stating facts—even as the state’s chief prosecutor painted a picture of bullets flying in the streets.
When the attorney general of a U.S. state openly states citizens gun down federal officers, this is no longer politics, it is incitement to civil war.
MUST WATCH: Democrat Arizona AG Kris Mayes crossed the line— THREATENING ICE agents for doing their jobs and signaling to her most radical anti-ICE constituents that using deadly force against law enforcement is justified.
“It’s kind of a recipe for disaster because you have… pic.twitter.com/zsK2tEuUJe
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) January 22, 2026
Arizona AG Kris Mayes wildly suggests residents can shoot masked ICE agents under state’s self-defense laws: ‘Recipe for disaster’
By Anna Young, NY Post, Jan. 22, 2026:
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.”
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes wildly suggested that residents can open fire on masked ICE agents under the state’s “Stand Your Ground” law.
“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.”
She retorted 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 a federal officer fatally shot protester Renee Nicole Good when she clipped him with her car during a heated confrontation on Jan. 7.
US Rep. David Schweikert (R-Ariz.) blasted the attorney general, calling her rhetoric “reckless.”
“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.
“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.
