New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham authorized the deployment of New Mexico National Guard personnel to support the Albuquerque Police Department in response to what the office called ongoing public safety challenges, particularly along the Central Avenue corridor.
"The safety of New Mexicans is my top priority," Lujan Grisham said. "By deploying our National Guard to support APD with essential duties, we're ensuring that trained police officers can focus on what they do best — keeping our communities safe. This partnership represents our commitment to addressing the fentanyl crisis and juvenile crime with every resource at our disposal."
Between 60 and 70 National Guard personnel will be deployed to Albuquerque beginning in mid-May.
The following can be attributed to Daniel Williams, policy advocate at the ACLU of New Mexico:
"All of us deserve to be safe at home, at work, and in our community. We, like so many in Albuquerque, know that that’s not always the case in our city. However, Governor Lujan Grisham's deployment of the National Guard to support Albuquerque police is a show of force, not a show of solutions. New Mexico already has one of the highest per capita rates of people killed by police in the nation. **History has shown that military collaboration with local law enforcement often leads to increased civil rights violations, racial profiling, and criminalization of vulnerable populations, particularly those experiencing homelessness and poverty. **
“The governor's past policy proposals too often have centered on efforts to criminalize and institutionalize unhoused New Mexicans, without a commensurate emphasis on solving the root causes of crime. New Mexicans should be confident that their governor is truly working to keep them safe, not doubling down on failed strategies that will fuel mass incarceration and multiply the harms our communities already endure. In a state so heavily impacted by police violence, the answer to safety cannot and will not be found in increased police presence, especially not through collaboration with the military.
“Our neighbors deserve an urgent outpouring of services and support by those trained and equipped to properly provide it. All of us will be safer when all of us are housed. All of us will be safer when all of us have access to good healthcare. All of us will be safer when all of us are economically secure. We join our partners and New Mexicans across the state in asking the governor and all of our leaders to double down on putting resources toward these meaningful solutions, rather than continuing to criminalize the most vulnerable among us.”