New Mexico’s Democratic governor explains how state used National Guard to combat crime

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• Geoff Bennett:

  President Trump's emergency declaration in Washington, D.C., that gave his administration control of local police is set to expire tonight. That, along with his deployment of National Guard troops to the city, has drawn sharp criticism from any Democrats, who have called it government overreach.

  But, in New Mexico, a Democratic governor who deployed the National Guard has seen violent crime fall in her state's largest city. In April, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham ordered about 70 Guard members to assist Albuquerque police with duties like securing crime scenes, patrolling transit and traffic control.

  And the governor joins us now.

  Welcome to the "News Hour."

• Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-NM):

  Thank you for having me. I appreciate being on the show.

• Geoff Bennett:

  So why did you decide to deploy the New Mexico National Guard to Albuquerque to support the police department there?

• Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham:

  Well, a multitude of reasons, but the biggest one is, public safety is a concern of every governor in the country. I want all of my residents and constituents to feel safe wherever they are, on the road, at work, at home, at school, at church, all of it.

  And I have got 1,000 fewer police officers in the city jurisdiction of Albuquerque than New Mexico had a decade ago. There's a big difference between what I'm doing and what the Trump administration is doing. I'm about cooperation and supporting community policing, not occupation. I don't control the police. I'm not taking over a jurisdiction or a city or a county. I'm trying to give them the resources that they need to do the jobs that they were trained to do and then keep our communities safer.

• Geoff Bennett:

  And on the ground, how is the Guard's role in Albuquerque different from what we have seen resulting from the president's decision to deploy the National Guard to Washington, D.C., and then, prior to that, Los Angeles?

• Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham:

  Well, first of all, there's no militarization of any of the policing. So you don't see tanks. You don't see men and women in riot gear. You don't see a giant troop sort of just deployed in the middle of a city.

  This is strategic, smart. And, by and large, the National Guard is behind the direct community policing. And what I mean by that is, is that they're doing the surveillance work. They're doing the arrest, transportation and bookings. They're doing the medical transports when that's required of an arrestee. They're making sure that they're doing all the dispatch calls.

  They are helping us with bus safety and transportation. They're doing the kind of background work that allows for more police time on the streets and communities. And to put that in perspective, since the start of this mission, the Guard has added 4,000 hours of direct policing time, which has led to more arrests, more deterrent — and I can give you two really good examples of that — and the kind of synergistic support that, frankly, our police departments do need, and I believe ultimately want.

  But the police department in Albuquerque is in charge of the operation. The State Police are doing what they do best. They're integrating their support to the local jurisdiction. And the Guard has been trained on this strategic mission.

• Geoff Bennett:

  It sounds like that approach, as you describe it, is working, but is it sustainable?

• Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham:

  It's tough to sustain.

  It is sustainable for the near future. I'm getting into a season where it's easier to do this work because I have fewer fires, weather is changing, fewer floods, fewer of those kinds of emergencies that the Guard has to be available to do first and foremost.

  But it speaks to another issue where I think the feds could be more helpful here. We have seen huge increases in their budgets, but I'm not seeing that presence in New Mexico in this way. I'd like to have more federal prosecutions. I need more lawyers. I'd like to see more U.S. Marshals. I'd like to see more FBI personnel. I'd like to see more DEA and AFT personnel.

  Now we're talking about being strategic and smart and elevating the amount of trained, qualified police officers or policing entities helping with our public safety issues. When you have 1,000 fewer police officers than you did a decade ago, you're going to have to shift the way in which you do things.

  And so I asked several administrations for that assistance, and I have certainly alerted the White House informally to date — that could change — that they ought to be putting more into their federal offices in states like New Mexico and along the border. We could do a lot more in our drug interdiction work as a result. I mean, my Guard already does that with the feds. We ought to do more of that. That makes people in Albuquerque and the rest of the state much safer.

• Geoff Bennett:

  Speaking of the federal government, the Justice Department recently labeled Albuquerque one of 17 sanctuary cities nationwide, and it says it plans to bring litigation as a result. What's your response to that designation? And, more broadly, how are New Mexico cities engaging with federal immigration enforcement?

• Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham:

  Interestingly enough, if you were to just put a political lens on New Mexico, like any state, we have very Democratic or blue cities. We have very red cities and counties.

  And as the Trump administration was trying to get a sense about how many law enforcement jurisdictions, remember, they don't work directly for me as the governor, how they would help them with indiscriminate and I believe unconstitutional immigration enforcement and detentions and deportations, I'm not aware of any law enforcement jurisdiction anywhere in the state agreeing to that cooperation, because I think ultimately, it takes them away from the core public safety work that they must engage in.

  And they — I think they believe and understand that it's unconstitutional. And if you don't believe that, it's certainly indiscriminate and unfair. The sanctuary city has been an easy way for far too many jurisdictions, at least in my opinion, to try to declare that they're going to do right by all of their laws and efforts at public safety.

  But immigration enforcement is, in fact, a federal issue. What we all want is for Congress to pass a bipartisan, smart and fair immigration bill, so that you can get visas and come to the United States legally, that we use smart security and safety measures at the border, more technology.

  And I don't think most folks in Congress are complaining or governors that we don't need more border personnel. Strategic, smart, deal with the problem, depoliticize it.

• Geoff Bennett:

  New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, thanks again for joining us this evening.

• Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham:

  Thank you, Geoff. It's a delight.