Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said yesterday that she would never deploy the New Mexico National Guard the way the California national guard has been used this week in Los Angeles.
Lujan Grisham was speaking to reporters in her Cabinet room after announcing a new geothermal project in the state.
Asked about whether the Guard would be called in to calm protests in New Mexico if necessary, she said they’re always on standby.
But she drew a clear distinction between the federal government’s deployment of the California National Guard and US Marines this week in Los Angeles . . . and how more confrontational rallies would be handled here.
"We are seeing the guard being used and deployed in a way in which they're replacing police and they're fully armed," Lujan Grisham said.
"That is not what we would do here. That is not what we will ever do here without taking every effort to prevent it and stop it, including, like California, we would go to court. That is not how we do any of our deployments."
Meanwhile, the governor said, the state does have the National Guard currently in crime-heavy Albuquerque.
But she underscored that their role in this case is to provide backup to police officers, not be on the front lines.
"I have deployed the guard to help in the background aspects of community policing in Albuquerque, Lujan Grisham said.
"We would never militarize the guard in this way. No weapons, no riot guard work upfront, agitating—never. I don't think that keeps people safe. I think it's the opposite and it is not how national guards are set up."
There are several protests against the Trump Administration’s stepped-up immigration enforcement campaign around New Mexico tomorrow.
Those events, called No Kings, will be held in municipalities including Santa Fe, Albuquerque, and Taos.
