1. United States
2. Ariz.
3. Letter

I am disappointed to hear you deliberately mischaracterize Attorney General Mayes’s statements about the danger that would be posed by current, observed masked ICE tactics in a state like ours, where gun culture and laws could produce escalating conflicts between agents and our armed population. AG Mayes was correct to point out that ICE’s current tactics and use of force practices are ill-equipped to prevent violent encounters with an armed populace; in fact, many journalists, researchers, and legal observers have questioned whether ICE is using tactics that are designed to provoke conflicts rather than the deescalation tactics adopted by state and local police departments across the country. Your poorly considered attack on AG Mayes does not make our state any less of a target; authoritarian creep will not pass us over because you attempt appeasement. Attorney General Mayes is correct to raise legitimate concerns about how our jurisdictional anomalies will produce unique dangerous for community members, police officers, and ICE agents in the weeks and months ahead. Forewarned is the best way forward.