GOP legislative leaders, Mayes to defend Arizona deportation law in court

Republican legislative leaders and Attorney General Kris Mayes are on the same side in a lawsuit challenging the state’s power to enforce immigration law, playing defense for a 2024 law that would give state judges the authority to issue deportation orders and local police officers the power to arrest migrants. 

Last week, the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project, which offers pro bono legal defense for many, including people facing deportation proceedings, filed a lawsuit against the state over Proposition 314. The ballot measure includes a provision that makes it a state crime, punishable with fines and prison time, for a person to cross Arizona’s southern border anywhere but at an official port of entry. 

Anticipating legal challenges, Republican lawmakers who wrote the ballot measure froze the enactment of that provision until 60 days after a similar law in Texas took effect. The Texas law was recently revived by a federal appeals court on May 15, allowing the Arizona version to be enforced as soon as July 14, according to attorneys for the immigrant rights legal group.

A hearing on whether the law should be blocked while litigation continues has been set for July 24. It’s unclear whether it’s possible for immigrants to be arrested under the law in the interim. Richie Taylor, a spokesman for Mayes, declined to comment on whether the provision is currently enforceable. 

Attorneys for the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project argue that the Arizona law should be thrown out because it violates the Supremacy Clause in the U.S. Constitution, which holds federal laws above state laws. Mayes, Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen and House Speaker Stephen Montenegro are preparing to argue that the law is constitutional and should be preserved. 

Petersen and Montenegro, who helped write and voted for Prop. 314 when it was moving through the legislature, successfully won permission to intervene in the case. The pair has defended multiple laws in court in recent years, a task ordinarily reserved for the state attorney general. The reason for that is ideological; Mayes, a Democrat, frequently refuses to go to bat for laws she disagrees with, particularly anti-abortion laws. 

In a motion requesting the court’s permission to join the case, Attorney Brunn W. Roysden III wrote that Petersen and Montenegro are skeptical of Mayes’ ability to adequately defend Prop. 314. 

“Even if Attorney General Mayes agrees to defend the law, she has…previously expressed her opposition,” Roysden wrote. 

While the ballot measure was being debated in the state legislature, Mayes released a statement denouncing it as a “political distraction” and warning that it would be both a burden for local law enforcement and a vehicle for discriminatory policing. 

“Further straining law enforcement resources while implementing a measure that could very well lead to racial profiling is not the answer to creating safer communities, not to mention the havoc and harm it would do to our economy, as we saw fourteen years ago with the passage of SB 1070,” she said. 

Also known as Arizona’s “show me your papers” law, SB1070 was gutted by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2012, with the justices ruling that only the federal government has the power to enforce immigration law. Much like Prop. 314, SB1070 allowed unauthorized immigrants to be charged with state crimes because of their presence in the state. One provision, that was among those nullified by the U.S. Supreme Court, allowed unauthorized immigrants to be charged with a misdemeanor for working or looking for work in the state.  

Despite her vocal opposition, Taylor said that Mayes is “fully prepared” to defend the legality of the law, which won 61% of the vote in 2024. Taylor dismissed the criticisms from Petersen and Montenegro, saying that Mayes’ previous stance on Prop. 314 won’t be a problem in court.

“Warren Petersen and Steve Montenegro may not understand the difference between having a policy disagreement and defending the state when it is sued, but that is the job of the Attorney General, and it’s one Attorney General Mayes is prepared to do,” Taylor said, in a written statement.