On April 7, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham declared a state of emergency in Albuquerque due to a "significant increase” in crime, authorizing emergency funds for the New Mexico National Guard to assist the Albuquerque Police Department, according to her executive order.
Beginning in mid-May, 60-70 National Guard members will be deployed to Albuquerque, according to a press release from the governor's office. They will focus particularly on Central Avenue, which encapsulates the southern boundary of the University of New Mexico’s main campus.
Lujan Grisham signed the order after APD Chief Harold Medina sent her a memorandum requesting assistance due to the “fentanyl epidemic coupled with an increase in violent juvenile crime.” In the memorandum, Medina wrote that the problem “can only be resolved with consistent and visible presence of APD officers to Albuquerque’s citizens.”
"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,” Lujan Grisham said in the press release. “This partnership represents our commitment to addressing the fentanyl crisis and juvenile crime with every resource at our disposal."
During a press conference, Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller said the New Mexico National Guard will be dressed as civilians in polos and will not be doing law enforcement.
“There is not going to be anyone with weapons,” Keller said. “There's not going to be anyone in fatigues. There’s not going to be any military vehicles.”
The Department of Finance Administration will make available $750,000 in emergency funding for the New Mexico National Guard, according to the executive order.
City of Albuquerque Director of Communications and Marketing Staci Drangmeister told the Daily Lobo that the National Guard will not be “just walking around or doing things,” on campus, but if there is an incident in the area they will help with “scene security.”
Daniel Williams, a policy advocate for the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico, said he is concerned this move will criminalize homelessness.
“When we hear folks talk about safety issues on Central, (it) is often this sort of villainization of our unhoused neighbors,” Williams said.
A majority of people at the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center are unhoused, according to Williams and the MDC Population Dashboard.
Williams said he thinks that fentanyl use cannot be addressed using the criminal legal system.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
“I think we need to be looking at the tools of the public health system,” he said. “I think that's a much more effective way of addressing fentanyl in our communities than sending more people to jail.”
Shawn Snow is a member of the unhoused community who resides on Central Avenue with his dog, Dude.
“It has been such a war against us,” he said.
Snow said he encounters police on a daily basis.
“The cops move us all the time — and I'm not breaking any law, I'm not obstructing this sidewalk,” he said. “I am sitting here reading my book, keeping to myself.”
Snow said he would like to see the city focus money and energy on finding places for the unhoused to live rather than locking them up.
Snow stayed at the Gateway West shelter, which transitioned to new ownership earlier this year, he said. Snow said it was “like being in a prison.”
“A tent city would be awesome,” Snow said. “It would probably be temporary until we started moving people of those into public housing — getting places like these motels that are closing down into studio apartments.”
When asked if the National Guard’s presence would impact the unhoused community, Drangmeister said that “they won’t be interacting directly with residents or the community.”
She said the National Guard will work at the Real Time Crime Center and the Prisoner Transport Unit, and help with scene security after “incidents.”
Selinda Guerrero, an organizer with the New Mexico chapter of Millions for Prisoners, said the executive order feels like a “betrayal by leadership” and targets vulnerable youth.
She said when vulnerable young people have idle time outside and no safe adults around, they can get “swallowed up” into trying drugs. She was out in the streets as a kid, she said.
“I was pushed out of school, I was living in poverty," she said. “When you have those kinds of elements at play against a young person, you don't feel like you have a lot that you can live for, you don't even feel like you have a community that you belong to.”
Guerrero said she works on the ground with vulnerable communities through ABQ Mutual Aid, which is a collective that delivers care packages to the unhoused.
“You have to be in a relationship with a vulnerable community to be able to help them assess their needs, to be able to help to build bridges to those needs,” Guerrero said. “That doesn't happen through the military — through people who are trained for war.”
Leila Chapa is the social media editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at socialmedia@dailylobo.com or on X @lchapa06
Paloma Chapa is the multimedia editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at multimedia@dailylobo.com or on X @paloma_chapa88
Leila Chapa is the social media editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at socialmedia@dailylobo.com or on X @lchapa06
Paloma Chapa is the multimedia editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at multimedia@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @paloma_chapa88
