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New Mexico Governor Faces High Crime Rate, Drug Treatment Issues

Crime and Justice News

In Albuquerque, New Mexico's largest city, homeless encampments clutter the sidewalks and the highway underpasses. In neighborhoods like the International District, people in drug-induced psychosis wander into busy streets and parking lots, oblivious to traffic. At one local store, there have been seven murders since 2020 and one shootout that injured a police officer. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and her family have personally experienced the violence, reports the New York Times. This summer, a man with a long criminal record randomly attacked the governor’s daughter-in-law with a rock and “cracked open her skull in several places,” the governor said. She spent several days in intensive care. “I’d like to tell you this is an anomaly,” Ms. Lujan Grisham said. “It is not.” Even as crime declines across the U.S. and fatal overdoses decrease, the violent crime rate in New Mexico was twice the national average in 2023, says the Council of State Governments Justice Center. The state is struggling with the fallout from fentanyl and meth use, including among the homeless. Lujan Grisham, 65, said her state must face a hard truth: Mentally ill or drug-addicted people living on the streets must be compelled to get help.


She is among Democratic governors who are trying to chart a path forward for their party, following its resounding defeat in November's elections. Her efforts to confront crime have caused ted fissures among Democrats in her state. Some Democrats accuse the governor of using frightening descriptions of people living on the streets that echo Republican talking points about migrants. They say that the state lacks the mental health resources to accommodate all of the people who would be required to undergo treatment.

Democrats in other states have tried to send the message that they are tackling the issues of homelessness and addiction. Gov. Gavin Newsom recently put on work gloves to clean up an encampment in California. Gov. Kathy Hochul is deploying increasing numbers of the National Guard to New York City’s subways. Oregon lawmakers rolled back a law that decriminalized hard drug use. These issues have been especially challenging in New Mexico. Heading into the pandemic, the state’s behavioral health system was in turmoil after a previous governor accused many providers of fraud.

New Mexico’s criminal justice system also has struggled to keep pace with the amount of crime.

More violent crime went unsolved in New Mexico in 2023 than in any other state, according to an analysis by the Council of State Governments Justice Center.


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