ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham sited public safety issues along Central and the fentanyl crisis as reasons to deploy the National Guard to Albuquerque to help APD.

The ACLU of New Mexico, however, isn’t sure military personnel will help the problem. 

“We have pretty big concerns that this is going to exacerbate our problems, not solve them,” said Daniel Williams, a ACLU of New Mexico policy advocate. 

Williams calls this order is a show of force rather than a show of solutions. The ACLU says leaders should be focused on housing people and helping those struggling with addiction, rather than putting more people in jail. 

“This is an extreme measure in the wrong direction. We need to be taking bold steps towards real solutions, not extreme measures towards mass incarceration,” said Williams. 

The executive order cites fentanyl and homelessness.

“What this is is essentially helping as public service aids, as PSA’s, so these are going to be civilians in polos, and they are not going to be doing law enforcement,” said Mayor Tim Keller. 

The ACLU of New Mexico says leaders should be more focused on pathways for people to get treatment. During this past session, state lawmakers had a bill Williams says would have done just that.

“One piece of legislation that was just introduced by Representative Tara Lujan this passed session would have created overdose prevention centers in New Mexico. Those are proven by data to reduce public drug use, reduce substance paraphernalia litter,” Williams said.  

Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina says freeing up officers will lower our crime rates.

“The National Guard is here to help clear up officers so APD officers can go out and be proactive and take more people to jail,” said Medina. 

But the ACLU says more police doesn’t always yield a safer community. They think the focus should be on housing and social services rather than incarceration. 

“New Mexicans already experience incredibly high rates of police violence, some of the highest in the country, and so anytime we talk about more police in our streets, more police interacting with vulnerable people we are worried about outcomes for folks,” said Williams.  

On Tuesday, the governor did not give a timeframe for how long the National Guard members would be here. She said it could be anywhere between six months to a year.