Attorney General Kris Mayes on masked ICE agents and more

Arizona’s Attorney General Kris Mayes joined “Arizona Horizon” to discuss the latest from her office.

Mayes is one of 21 other Attorneys General who asked Congress to prohibit Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from using masks during raids to conceal their identities.

When asked why she supports a ban on masks for ICE agents, Mayes raised safety concerns and explained it is an uncommon practice in law enforcement.

“Real law men and women do not wear masks,” Mayes said. “We don’t in Arizona for the most part. In some very rare circumstances, if my officers, my special agents, are going undercover or doing very sensitive investigations will wear masks or not wear our identifying information or identifying badges, but that hardly ever happens. So the problem is that by allowing ICE to wear masks, it creates this sort of what I think are safety concerns and situations where people don’t know who’s arresting them, who’s detaining them.”

Another cause of concern with ICE agents wearing masks, according to Mayes, was the possibility of criminals pretending to be authority figures while masked.

“We’re already starting to see copycat situations where criminals are dressing up like ICE agents, and in some cases, in a couple of cases, kidnapping people,” Mayes said. “We know that the individuals in Minnesota, the legislators who were assassinated, were assassinated by someone who was dressed up like a police officer.”

Mayes also discussed the more than 20 lawsuits against the Trump Administration her office is a part of, including lawsuits on education funding and changes to the Affordable Care Act.

When asked when and why she decides to sue, Mayes cited two core criteria: “Number one, does it violate the constitution, is it unlawful?” Mayes said. “Number two, does it harm Arizona?”

As for the Affordable Care Act lawsuit, Mayes said she was concerned the changes being implemented would result in many Arizonans unlawfully losing access to health care.

“What they are doing is throwing roadblocks in the way of people getting health care that those people are due,” Mayes said. “They’re doing it in a way that is blatantly unconstitutional or unlawful, and so as the chief law legal officer of Arizona, I have to file that lawsuit.”