After Republican state Sen. Warren Petersen, who is running to be the next attorney general, vowed to help deport more than 18,000 undocumented Arizonans who were brought to the US as children, or “Dreamers,” Arizona “Dreamers” are calling him out for the comments.
The controversy started after Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes posted on X celebrating the 14th anniversary of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, created by then-President Barack Obama. DACA provides temporary deportation relief, work permits, driver’s licenses, and Social Security numbers for some immigrants brought to the US as children.
“Arizona is stronger because of Dreamers,” Mayes said in the post.
It earned the gripe of her opponent, state Sen. Warren Petersen (R-Gilbert), who responded to Mayes’ tweet, warning Dreamers to “be ready to be deported or prosecuted.”
“Here is some free legal advice to our sitting AG. DACA is found nowhere in the Constitution,” Petersen wrote on X. “She is fighting to protect illegals. I will keep our border secure and will work with the federal government to deport everyone who enters this country illegally.”
Arizona is home to more than 18,000 DACA recipients, many of whom are living in heightened fear as they experience longer wait-times on renewal applications under the Trump administration, leaving many in legal limbo. Some “Dreamers” have indicated feeling like sitting ducks as Trump deploys Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents across the country to detain longtime residents.
Petersen vowed to add to their fear.
“People who break the law should be held accountable, regardless of their employment and whether or not they are your buddies,” Petersen wrote.
José Patiño, a DACA recipient and vice president of education and external affairs at Aliento, an immigration advocacy group, called the comments “alarming” and said he worries about the state of the Republican party that has made anti-immigrant sentiment part of its party platform.
“It’s alarming that you would have an attorney general wanting to deport individuals that currently are still protected under federal law,” Patiño said. “It’s just alarming on many different fronts, but it’s not surprising, given the state of the Republican Party.”
Patiño’s family came to the US when he was just 6 years old from Mexico for economic stability. His family settled in Arizona and has lived here ever since. After more than 30 years in Arizona, Patiño knows he is a lifelong Arizonan—the only difference between him and Petersen’s right to be here is paperwork, he said.
“What is the difference between myself and a US citizen, other than the fact you have a paper,” Patiño said. “They’re trying to redefine what it is to be American, and if you don’t fit in that criteria, then you’re not American, and it goes beyond just immigrants. It becomes a little bit scary that this is something that is now a mainstream political view of one of the major political parties here in the country.”
Despite the GOP’s stance against DACA, the majority of Americans indicated support for the program. A 2025 Gallup poll found that 80% of Americans believe immigrants brought to the US as children should have the opportunity to become naturalized citizens.
Ana Laura, a DACA recipient who arrived in the US when she was 3 years old, said the DACA community has been fearful as Trump ramps up arrests and especially after ICE agents detained Karla Toledo, a prominent Arizona influencer and “Dreamer,” in May.
“A lot of DACA recipients are starting to feel the fright and the panic that the undocumented community has,” Laura said. “We had experienced a lot of limbo, but never a deportation scare, and now we’re starting to experience that as well.”
If the circumstances were different, Ana Laura said, she’d brush off Petersen’s comments as political posturing. But under a Trump administration that has detained as many as 270 DACA recipients and deported 174 from January to September 2025, according to an April letter from ICE’s acting director Todd Lyon’s, the comments hold more weight.
“It actually makes me fearful because if he were to win, there is a lot of security and support behind some honestly illegal actions he could take,” Ana Laura said.
For Ana Laura, the fear that comes with being a “Dreamer” is part of the territory. But she said elected officials like Petersen can, and should, be more careful with their words so as not to evoke fear into a sizable amount of the Arizona community.
Because DACA requires applicants to submit addresses, employment records, and income details, Ana Laura fears her data makes her an easy target for the Trump administration because ICE knows exactly where to find her. If Petersen were to become the next attorney general, she’d feel even more unsafe with the state’s top prosecutor already vowing to go after Dreamers.
“DACA recipients are easy targets,” Laura said. “We have given up so much information to the government, there is literally a database and a system that keeps track of our whereabouts.”
Petersen later walked back his comments and said they were mischaracterized.
“It was me saying that Kris Mayes was supporting DACA Day and saying it was protected by the Constitution, and I was saying DACA is not found in the Constitution,” Petersen said. “It was her and the Arizona Mirror that were saying that I would deport DACA.”
Laura, a Phoenix DACA recipient who asked that her last name be withheld out of fear of retaliation, rejected Petersen’s clarification, saying his comments build a “narrative of hate.”
“You would think that someone who holds that position would be well-educated on the contributions of the Dreamers,” Laura said. “It’s not a message of ignorance, because I believe that to hold that position, you should have the knowledge.”
She added that it is disheartening to see an elected official focus on targeting DACA recipients at a time when Arizona residents are struggling with high grocery, food, and housing costs.
“The majority of voters in Arizona are concerned about bigger things, such as being able to afford to live and getting fair wages,” Laura said. “He’s really telling [us] that he’s not really worried about the needs of the community. I think it should disqualify you.”
