Republican AG candidates Petersen, Glassman clash over DACA, immigration enforcement

Two Republicans running to be Arizona’s next attorney general sparred over immigration enforcement and the limits of the office.

Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen and attorney Rodney Glassman each appeared on KTAR 92.3 FM’s The Mike Broomhead Show in what host Barry Markson called a “deconstructed debate” ahead of the July 21 primary.

The winner will face Democratic incumbent Kris Mayes in November.

The exchanges came a day after Petersen drew criticism for social media posts that opponents said suggested he would go after people protected by DACA, the Obama-era program that shields recipients from deportation people who were brought to the country illegally as children.

Here is some free legal advice to our sitting AG. DACA is found nowhere in the Constitution.

Just another reason why every major law enforcement organization has endorsed me and not Mayes. She isn’t even hiding it. She is not for law enforcement or the law.

She is fighting to… https://t.co/7xRwgPktfL

— Warren Petersen (@votewarren) June 17, 2026

More than 18,000 Arizonans are enrolled in the program.

Petersen said his remarks 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.”

Petersen said people currently protected under DACA “can’t be deported” and that immigration enforcement falls to the federal government, not the state attorney general.

Glassman took the opportunity to criticize the frontrunner, calling Petersen’s posts an attempt to “pander to people that don’t understand what the federal government does.”

“Based on the current laws, the attorney general for the state of Arizona cannot prosecute people for being here illegally, and anyone who tells you otherwise doesn’t understand the law,” Glassman said.

Glassman, a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force JAG Corps Reserve and 17-year prosecutor, said his role as attorney general would be ensuring that people stopped with probable cause are asked about their citizenship and held for federal agents.

Both candidates also discussed the Border Security Act, which takes effect in July.

Petersen, who helped write the law, said it only allows state officers to act if they witness someone crossing the border illegally and does not apply to encounters elsewhere in the state.

Early voting begins June 24.

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