Southwest
Arizona attorney general warns Trump deporting Dreamers would be a ‘bright red line’
Arizona’s top law enforcement officer said in a recent interview she is unafraid to stand up to President-elect Trump on immigration enforcement.
Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes told the U.K.’s Guardian any plans to construct deportation centers, which she previously called “concentration camps,” in the Grand Canyon State would be a nonstarter.
Mayes defended Dreamers, beneficiaries of the Obama-era DACA program, saying any federal attempts to send them to their home countries would be “a bright red line for me.”
“I will not stand for an attempt to deport them or undermine them,” Mayes said. “I will do everything I can legally to fight [family separation or construction of deportation camps].
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President Trump and Thomas Homan, acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, talk during a law enforcement roundtable on sanctuary cities in the Roosevelt Room at the White House March 20, 2018, in Washington, D.C. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
“Not on our soil.”
The Dreamer moniker originates from the DREAM Act — Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors. It was first proposed by Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., and the late Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, in 2001 and has been reintroduced in several succeeding sessions of Congress by Durbin but has never become law.
Most recently, it was proposed in 2023 by Durbin and his Republican counterpart in Senate Judiciary Committee leadership, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.
Former President Obama borrowed pieces of the legislation when he instituted DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
Trump previously tried to get rid of DACA but was stopped by the Supreme Court in DHS v. University of California.
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“I think the Supreme Court will ultimately see the merits of protecting them,” Mayes said of Dreamers.
“We want to give the courts the opportunity to make the right decision here, and we’ll be making very strong arguments on that proposition.”
In previous comments reported by the Arizona Mirror, Mayes said the issue with mass deportation proposals from people like Trump and “border czar”-designate Tom Homan is that they can lead to abuses of the system.
Mayes has said she wants to see violent criminal offenders and drug cartel members removed from the U.S.
Kris Mayes (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)
In the Guardian interview, Mayes credited near-complete border-state cooperation on the matter of immigration.
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez, California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Mayes are “united,” she said, adding Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is the one border state lawman who is not.
“[W]e are going to fight for due process and for individual rights,” she said of herself, Torrez and Bonta.
Mayes also acknowledged the fentanyl crisis and a porous border, saying Arizonans rightly want it rectified.
She reportedly said more federal resources should be spent on additional Border Patrol and prosecutions of cartel-connected people, as opposed to Trump’s idea of using the National Guard to help deport illegal immigrants.
“[W]hen Arizonans voted for Donald Trump, they did not vote to shred the Arizona and 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 Mayes’ Guardian interview but did not receive a response by press time.
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Jurors deliberating the fate of the man accused of starting the Palisades Fire, one of the most destructive wildfires in California’s history, failed to reach a verdict Thursday afternoon, telling the judge they were deadlocked.
A spokesperson from the United States Attorney’s Office told KTLA that jurors will continue to deliberate until they reach a verdict or give up.
Jonathan Rinderknecht, 30, a former Uber driver and one-time Pacific Palisades resident, is accused of starting the Lachman Fire on New Year’s Eve. The fire continued to smolder underground for about a week, even after Los Angeles firefighters believed it had been extinguished.
Flames reignited on Jan. 7, erupting into the deadly Palisades Fire that killed 12 people and destroyed thousands of homes in the upscale community, authorities said.
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A courtroom sketch of Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, during his initial court appearance on Oct. 23, 2025. (Bill Robles) -
The U.S. Dept. of Justice booking photo of Jonathan Rinderknecht over the Palisades Fire devastation in Malibu, California in January 2025 (AP).
Prosecutors argued that Rinderknecht deliberately set the fire, claiming he had grown increasingly resentful of wealthy residents and viewed Pacific Palisades as a symbol of that frustration.
“Their case, though circumstantial, is strong,” KTLA legal analyst Alison Triessl said. “The defense is relying on, can they (prosecutors) show beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Rinderknecht actually started this fire and it wasn’t the result of fireworks or some intervening cause.”
The defense argued there is no direct physical evidence tying Rinderknecht to the fire and said the prosecution’s case relies entirely on circumstantial evidence. Rinderknecht did not testify during the trial.
Defense attorney Steve Haney spoke outside the courthouse Wednesday about why he believes it will be difficult for prosecutors to prove how the fire started.
“The lack of scene preservation. The fact that they got there after a lot of the evidence was missing. Not a lot of direct evidence. This is a circumstantial case, which is always difficult as a prosecutor to prove,” Haney said.
Rinderknecht, who was arrested and indicted last October, faces up to 45 years in prison if found guilty of three arson counts, including destruction of property by means of fire, arson affecting property used in interstate commerce and timber set afire.
Tony Kurzweil contributed to this report
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