Border District Dem Wants a ‘Stand Down’ for Border Security Operations

An Arizona Democrat seeking to unseat Rep. Juan Ciscomani has advocated for a “stand down” of Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations, emphasizing the need to reconsider border security strategies.

“First and foremost, what we need to address is we need a stand down for ICE and all ICE operations right now because an external, independent investigation needs to happen,,” JoAnna Mendoza said in a recorded interview with the Cochise County Voice after the ICE related killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.

According to Merriam-Webster, a stand down is “a relaxation of power of a military unit or force from an alert or operational posture.”

Mendoza, a Marine veteran, is running in a district where roughly 27% of the population is Hispanic and has argued that her stance reflects voter sentiment.

Mendoza believes that addressing the challenges of the southern border will resonate with voters and is crucial for the community’s future.

Recent polling, however, suggests border security remains a top concern among Hispanic voters in the Southwest. A National Victory Strategies poll of more than 1,000 registered Hispanic voters in the region found that 36% cited a lack of border security as their primary concern.

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Support for enforcement operations has been driven in part by concerns about drugs and violent crime in border communities, according to law enforcement officials.

A Department of Homeland Security report released last June found that violent crime declined sharply after the Trump administration began enforcing stricter border operations in January 2025. Between January and June 2025, gun assaults fell 21%, aggravated assaults dropped 10%, sexual assaults declined 10%, and carjackings decreased 24% compared with the same period the previous year, DHS reported.

“Seventy percent of Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests are of illegal aliens who have been convicted or charged with a crime,” then‑Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin said at the time. “These arrests and deportations of criminal illegal aliens are having real impact on public safety.”

Mendoza’s criticism of ICE is not her first clash with law enforcement policy. During a 2020 town hall, she suggested shifting police funding to social programs.

“I support the reallocation of funding to programs that would allow people to live their best lives,” Mendoza said, citing housing, public education, health care, economic stability, and environmental safety.

Her campaign noted to The Daily Signal that the clip used by Fox News is “misleading,” since Mendoza was asked how she would address systemic racism in law enforcement.

“I support policy solutions that hold officers accountable, such as body cams, ensuring that we have an independent oversight committee for investigations… and also ensuring that we have a database that would capture police officer misconduct,” Mendoza said in a statement shared by her campaign with The Daily Signal. “All of these reforms would require increased resources for law enforcement and are generally popular with police unions.”

Additionally, Kyle McCarthy, a spokesman for her campaign, previously said that “any claim that she wants to defund the police is categorically false, a lie, and a political smear from D.C. hacks hoping to save Juan Ciscomani from an early retirement,”

Despite the campaign’s response, Mendoza’s repeated criticism of law enforcement has drawn scrutiny from Republican officials.

“Far‑left activist JoAnna Mendoza is completely out of touch with Arizonans who have repeatedly rejected Democrats’ extreme open‑border policies,” Republican National Committee spokesman Nick Poche told The Daily Signal. “If Mendoza got her way, drugs would be pouring over the border, and more families would be burying victims of completely preventable crimes. Democrats are off their rocker if they think an open‑border, defund‑the‑police radical has a shot at winning in November.”

Poche added that ending ICE operations would have broader implications beyond deportations. He cited how, during the Department of Homeland Security shutdown earlier this year, ICE agents assisted Transportation Security Administration personnel at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, one of the region’s busiest airports.

This story has been edited to include the statements issued to The Daily Signal by Mendoza’s campaign after publication, and to reflect Mendoza’s exact wording in the initial quote.