As major U.S. cities continued to brace for immigration raids Monday, an Arizona state senator "liked" a tweet appearing to encourage damage of Immigration and Customs Enforcement vehicles.

“If you see an ICE vehicle, 'DO NOT' cut at least two of the wheel’s valve stems," it said, with a photo of a valve stem being snipped. "This would prevent the vehicle from driving, as they only carry one spare.”

The Twitter post, published Saturday by an account critical of migrant-detention conditions and the president's immigration policies, appeared to have been deleted by midday Monday.

But not before state Sen. Juan Mendez, D-Tempe, had "liked" it — and others had noticed.

"I think it’s just despicable. He’s an elected official, and obviously he’s choosing the side of lawlessness," said Art del Cueto, a border patrol agent and vice president of the National Border Patrol Council.

"What if a certain agent is at an area where he needs to leave immediately because his life may be in danger? This irresponsible act would not enable him to leave the area immediately."

Del Cueto interpreted the tweet's "DO NOT" as tongue-in-cheek, as did other Twitter users: One responded that while "valve stems are five dollar parts, tire sidewalls cannot be patched or repaired," so "definitely avoid damaging sidewalls."

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Mendez had a different read.

"The tweet I liked specifically says DO NOT do the action," he said when reached via text Monday. "I had recently heard about activists getting arrested by protesting on the light rail and others (in other states) pulling down flags and replacing them. So I appreciated that the tweet in question was cautioning against acts of vandalism."

A message sent by The Republic to that account via Twitter did not receive an immediate reply.

Mendez said his constituents were "devastated by the U.S.'s racist immigration policy" and feel "there isn't anything they can do about the separation of families and the death of migrants who are attempting to practice their right to petition for asylum."

Mendez also asked whether Republican critics of his actions on Twitter would hold President Donald Trump — who on Sunday launched a national firestorm when he told a group of Democratic congresswomen to "go back" to where they'd come from — to the same standards and denounce those Twitter posts.

As of Monday, Arizona Republicans remained largely silent about Trump's tweets. Peoria state Sen. David Livingston took a position critical of Democrats, not the president.

Livingston retweeted a post from conservative radio host Bill Mitchell that said, "I have read this (Trump) tweet over and over again trying to discern how ANYONE could perceive this as #racist in any way.

"My only conclusion is this: If you ARE a racist, you see racism everywhere — even in tweets, like this one, which have NOTHING to do with race.

"#LiberalsAreRacists," the tweet concluded.

Reach the reporter at maria.polletta@arizonarepublic.com or 602-653-6807. Follow her on Twitter @mpolletta.

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