New Mexico’s National Guard Adjutant General announced Monday that guardsmen will soon be deployed to Española, a town of roughly 10,000 people in Northern New Mexico whose leaders recently asked for state help dealing with a crime, drug and housing crisis.
Española will be the second New Mexico city to receive National Guard troops. Albuquerque, the state’s biggest city, has seen a monthslong troop deployment in support of the Albuquerque Police Department.
Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham authorized the deployments to both cities in emergency orders that cite rising crime and short-staffed law enforcement agencies. The governor’s Aug. 13 emergency order for the Española area authorized National Guard deployments, along with funding for emergency housing or healthcare help. Her office stressed at the time that there were no imminent plans to deploy National Guard troops to Española.
According to the executive order, police calls in the Española area have doubled in the last two years, and police dispatches to businesses have quadrupled in that same period. She also cited Rio Arriba County’s high overdose death rate, “with residents struggling with addiction to fentanyl and other illicit substances.” Lujan Grisham’s order also authorized $750,000 in emergency spending. Last week, the state health department reported Rio Arriba County is one of three in Northern New Mexico with surging overdose deaths and overdose emergency room visits…