New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham has declared a state of emergency to quell violence and drug trafficking in the state.
Gov. Grisham announced the sweeping emergency declaration in crime-ridden Rio Arriba County, which includes two Native American Pueblo communities. The county, which stretches from the city of Española to the Colorado state line, has struggled with some of the nation’s highest opioid overdose death rates, according to Fox News.
Grisham said local leaders have pleaded for assistance in tackling the crises and that public safety threats have “overwhelmed local resources.”
“When our local leaders called for help to protect their communities, we responded immediately with decisive action,” Grisham said in a statement. “We are making every resource available to support our local partners on the ground and restore public safety and stability to these areas that have been hardest hit by this crisis.”
The emergency declaration makes $750,000 available to the Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management to coordinate response efforts and to provide resources to the communities impacted.
Grisham said a surge in criminal activity has contributed to increased homelessness, family instability and fatal drug overdoses, placing extraordinary strain on local governments and police departments that have requested immediate state assistance.
She said police calls in Española and surrounding areas have more than doubled in the past two years. Police dispatches to businesses in the area have quadrupled in the same period.
There were no immediate calls for troop deployments in the county, though the new emergency declaration allows for authorities to call up the National Guard. Emergency funds will help local law enforcement agencies spend on overtime, equipment and coordinated police responses, a Grisham spokesperson said.
The tribal governor of Santa Clara Pueblo on the edge of Española urged the state to address a growing public safety crisis stemming from the use and abuse of fentanyl and alcohol in the community at large.
“The Pueblo has expended thousands of dollars trying to address this crisis… and to protect Pueblo children who are directly and negatively affected by a parent’s or guardian’s addiction,” said Santa Clara Gov. James Naranjo in a July letter to Lujan Grisham. “But we are not an isolated community and the causes and effects of fentanyl/alcohol abuse, increased crime and increased homelessness extend to the wider community.”
Grisham’s emergency declaration comes after she sent the National Guard to Albuquerque in April to address a spike in juvenile crime and fentanyl and two days after President Trump seized control of Washington, D.C.’s police force to combat violent crime in the Democrat-run capital.
READ NEXT: Tim Walz’s Daughter Criticizes Trump’s Crime Crackdown
Everybody well knows Albuquerque is Cartel central north of the border for drugs and human trafficking. If I I didn’t know better I would say they (The Cartels) are trying to get ahead of our criminal justice system Hmmm?
Your state is suffering from consequences of The State Of Demonocrat Policies. You are seeing the unfolding of events due to its natural progression. If you don’t know what you are doing, admit it, and consult the nearest Republican and call me in the morning. I will send you my bill.
..I have been living and visiting NM for 55 years…Rio Arriba County has been a hard drug transit route for as long as I’ve lived here…Rio Arriba County was run with an iron fist by Emilio Naranjo, Democrat (deceased) and his advocates who still have hooks deep into the drug addled county. It has been established that a supply transit route from the Mexican border has been in existence for decades…AND NOTHING WAS DONE ABOUT IT!
I personally have spoken with LE officials about this history, and was told that the US DEA regional office in Denver does not include NM LE in any cooperative actions…DEA goes alone.
Most citizens in NM believe the State, County, and Municipal governments are literally ownd by the Mexican cartels in these times. What this whack-job Governor is doing is simply CYA-time!
I want to see the D.C. Democrats jump up and down screaming about repression and NAZI tactics in N. Mexico now.
Better late than never. Oar president will be glad to help her if she has the smart’s to ask.
It’s only a matter of time before the Democrat controlled northern New Mexico is ruined by the Democrat control. What a shame. I’ve tramped all over northern NM for nearly 50 years & it is truly the Land of Enchantment!
WOW! Finally a Democrat that doesn’t support criminal als.