Arizona attorney general candidate Lacy Cooper touts record on prosecuting border crimes

All six candidates seeking the Republican nomination for Arizona attorney general say border security is the top issue facing the state. Lacy Cooper is the candidate who has the most experience as a prosecutor on that issue.

A first-time candidate, Cooper said she felt compelled to run because of what she feels is the Biden administration's "open border" policies.

Her Republican challengers for the primary Aug. 2 are attorney Rodney Glassman, ​former Arizona Supreme Court Justice Andrew Gould, Karsten Manufacturing Corp. corporate counsel Dawn Grove, former Maricopa County prosecutor Abe Hamadeh and Eloy lawyer Tiffany Shedd.

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What distinguishes Cooper in race

Cooper says that she is the border security candidate, a mantle claimed by many in the race. As the former border security section chief at the U.S. Attorney's Office, she managed a group of 25-30 attorneys in prosecuting mostly border crimes.

"I think about a particular case we had where migrants were shoved in the back of a U-Haul and it was at the end of summer, as I recall, and one of the migrants died … and the other migrants were trapped in a U-Haul with a dead body," she told The Arizona Republic in an interview.

She also distinguishes herself from the rest of the Republican contenders by having 15 years of prosecutorial experience, approximately three times more than the next most experienced prosecutor. She said this expertise is particularly important with the rise of violent crime.

And unlike the rest of the field, Cooper has said she would have certified Arizona's 2020 presidential elections with Joe Biden as the winner, given the information available at the time.

High-profile prosecutorial experience

Cooper's prosecutorial work involved cases dealing with illegal crossings, drug and human smuggling and terrorism.

She said her investigations included taking down Juan Guadalupe Jacobo Regalado or "El J3," one of the leaders of a cell named "Los Demonios" within the Sinaloa cartel.

Another highlight of Cooper's prosecutorial career involved a man who claimed refuge in the U.S. from Somalia with two people who he incorrectly said were his parents. While under investigation for drug trafficking and money laundering, Mohamed Farah also confessed to more nefarious actions, she said.

"He was radicalized and pretty unmoored … and at some point he was approached about blowing up the Mall of America, which he agreed to do, but the plot fell through," Cooper said.

'I don't expect to be given any gifts'

Cooper moved to Arizona when she was 7 years old. Born in New Mexico, on the Texas border, her family's path to the Grand Canyon State was not easy.

"There was a time within my family's life that we just really had nothing. My dad had taken a job in another town. And so my parents packed up the car and all of our belongings and … by the time got there, the job was not available anymore. My family literally had no home and no job and just a car full of belongings. And we had to at some point live with my aunt and uncle who lived in Tucson just to get by," Cooper said.

"We moved to Arizona for my dad's job here, and then my mom had to go to work. She had always been a stay-at-home mom but one income wasn't sufficient. … It wasn't until a couple of years into having two incomes that my family finally had some financial stability and were able to buy a home."

The experience has made Cooper appreciative for everything she does have.

"I do not expect to be given any gifts or any opportunities or anything like that," she said.

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Restoring AG's civil rights division

An aunt to seven nieces and nephews, two of whom are African American, Cooper said she wants to restore the civil rights division to its proper place of authority in the Attorney General's Office.

"It has made me think far more deeply about race issues and racial reconciliation because I have to think about how my family members might be mistreated simply because of the color of their skin," she said. "My niece is turning 8 this year, and she already had people say some pretty horrible racist things to her and she's so young to have experienced that."

The civil rights division is supposed to be its own full division — like civil litigation and criminal — but it is now a third office under the civil division, with bankruptcy and consumer protection.

"I think that that it sends the wrong message to have it buried three deep because we have a lot of false allegations in our country and I think that has desensitized people to when there are actual instances of discrimination based on race, sex, disability, religion, all of those things are codified in Arizona law," Cooper said. "We're the party of Lincoln and that's our legacy to be on the front lines fighting back against race discrimination."

Volunteer work

Cooper serves on the board of the Christian Legal Society and provides legal advice for churches and nonprofit organizations.

She said she has attended churches her whole life and started leading Bible studies at age 13. She is in the choir at Scottsdale Bible Church.

She also serves on the board of One Mission, a nonprofit with multiple locations in Mexico that also operates in Nicaragua and El Salvador. In return for a house, people give back to their community through actions like growing fruits and vegetables in a community garden or vaccinating against malaria.

"I was spending all of my days going after the cartels, you know, weeding out the bad folks who were operating from Mexico. One of the things we see around the world is when there's wars or invasions … there's a vacuum that's created sometimes other bad actors just move into the void, like Isis in Iraq," Cooper said.

"I felt like I was rooting out the bad and my participation on that board gave me an opportunity to plant the good in those places where we were fighting off the cartels."

Don't judge a book by its cover

Cooper says she is underestimated because of how she looks. At 41, she is sometimes mistaken for someone in her early 30s. With a sunny disposition, she said people also sometimes underestimate her strength.

"I walk into the courtroom in the morning, cheerful and smiling and greeting everyone and 'How are you doing today?' And then get somebody up on the stand and I rip them apart. That's what I do," Cooper said.

Tara Kavaler is a politics reporter at The Arizona Republic. She can be reached by email at tara.kavaler@arizonarepublic.com or on Twitter @kavalertara. 

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona attorney general primary 2022 candidate: Lacy Cooper