back Democratic Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham The state’s Republican Party announced that she was sending the National Guard to Albuquerque to address the spikes of juvenile crime and fentanyl, a move he said was not enough.
Grisham signed an executive order on April 8 that authorized the deployment of 60-70 New Mexico National Guard personnel to Albuquerque in mid-May, citing the rise of fentanyl epidemic and juvenile crime to “a critical issue requiring immediate intervention.”
However, the National Guard will not directly help resolve the fentanyl crisis or juvenile crime. Instead, they will be used for on-site safety and traffic control, prisoner transport assistance, and other roles that do not involve arrest. The National Guard will release Albuquerque Police Department resources, a press release from the Gleason office said.
New Mexico Republican executive director Leticia Muñoz told Fox News Digital that the National Guard deployment is not close to solving the problem. She said more substantive measures, such as bail reforms and tougher penalties, need to be taken.
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Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan/File)
“No, it’s definitely not enough. What this is, you can see the mayor’s mismanagement. And, you know, we appreciate all the work that law enforcement does in Albuquerque, we know their hands are tied,” Muniz said. “We know that bail reform and reform have to be done as long as the individual is imprisoned for longer.”
She said it appears that Democrats are trying to “be guilty of “juveniles,” a pilot program proposed by the state that will release juvenile suspects (if they are doing well) after being detained to provide $2,000 in housing assistance to juvenile suspects.
“That alone shows you the Democratic belief in any type of juvenile and crime in the state,” she said of the proposal.
Albuquerque police arrested or cite 2,600 minors aged 11 to 17 from 2019 to 2024 According to Krqe.
March, Albuquerque police He allegedly hit a 13-year-old boy behind the wheel of a stolen car and hit Scott Dwight Habermehl, 63, who rode his bike to work in May 2024.
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New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images/File)
Police also arrested two other minors, 11 and 15, who were in the car with a 13-year-old man when Habermehl was attacked.
They were all charged with first-degree murder, leaving behind scenes of accidents involving serious bodily injury or death, conspiracy to murder and illegal possession of a pistol of a person under the age of 19.
The 13-year-old is allegedly a suspect in a series of burglaries in June 2024.
Juvenile crime is not the only problem that prompted the deployment of the National Guard to Albuquerque. Bernalillo County Sheriff John Allen Tell KOB4 Since the establishment of Operation Route 66 seven weeks ago, about 2,700 fentanyl pills have been taken away from the street and nearly 400 arrests have been made.
Albuquerque Police Commissioner Harold Medina and New Mexico Governor Michelle Luyan Grisham （AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan/File | Sam Wasson/Getty Images/File)
“I will accept and work with anyone who helps with crime, during the period. But our representatives and New Mexico State Police, probation and parole, DA’s office, we have approached 400 arrests and we are on the street fentanyl. I know we are making a difference in the community.”
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Operation No. 66 was one of the reasons Grisham sent national defenders, Allen said.
The New Mexico Department of Health said in January that fentanyl was involved in 65% of the state’s overdose deaths in 2023, a recent compilation of data.
Fox News Digital contacted the National Guard, Albuquerque Police Department and Grisham’s office.
