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While President Donald Trump has loudly praised the National Guard for helping halt crime in Washington, D.C., some liberal havens have also been using similar tactics, albeit more quietly. Trump’s use of the National Guard to quell protests in Los Angeles and clean up the streets of the capital has earned him scorn amongst Democrats across the country. The president’s critics complain that the heavy-handed, militaristic approach to attacking D.C.’s crime woes has unsettled residents and wasted the soldiers’ time. But the Democratic leadership of New Mexico, a state where crime rates soar higher than many others, has implemented a similar approach, sans the camouflage uniforms. In Albuquerque, New Mexico, around a hundred National Guard soldiers tasked with helping law enforcement - since they do not have the same arrest authority - can be spotted in khakis and polos, the Washington Post reports. The soldiers are serving at the courtesy of the Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who activated the force after declaring a state of emergency in April due to a ‘significant surge’ in rising crime, especially among the youth, and a ballooning fentanyl crisis. ‘It [Albuquerque] is one of the most dangerous places,’ Democratic New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham told the Post. ‘I want results.’ And similar to what has transpired in Washington, the results have yielded significantly lower crime, according to Albuquerque police data. Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina noted that his decision to ask state and local leaders for help addressing the burgeoning crime crisis was ‘one of the best decisions I’ve made.’ The duties of the National Guard soldiers differ slightly from those of the fatigue-wearing troops in D.C., who regularly patrol high-traffic areas, like metro stations and commercial shopping and dining corridors. Many of the troops in Washington - in addition to the D.C. National Guard troops - have been sent in from nearby states, including South Carolina, West Virginia, Ohio, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee. Meanwhile, the troops in New Mexico are mostly from the local community and are unarmed. Their duties include directing traffic, watching city security camera feeds, transporting prisoners, operating surveillance drones and other supporting roles. These New Mexico soldiers have been deployed to particularly crime-infested areas, like Central Avenue, a main artery that is spotted with boarded-up buildings and razor-wire-topped businesses, the Post reports. Some locals refer to the area as the ‘War Zone.’ Open-air drug use is not an infrequent sight in this part of town. Local leaders are trying to distance their use of the troops from the president’s. Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller posted on Facebook in June how Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to Los Angeles was ‘just plain wrong. The military should never be using force in our cities.’ The success in the city has led to plans for other deployments, too. The governor recently announced another state of emergency in the city of Española after local leaders pleaded for help in tackling violent crime and drug trafficking in the city with roughly 10,000 residents.
