"The past couple of years we’ve heard from some city leaders such as the mayor that downplayed some of the crime issues that been causing businesses to close, that have been causing people to feel unsafe and that have greatly impacted the way of life in our city,” LeDoux, one of two Republicans on the council, said in a video posted on Facebook. “I’m glad that Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham sees what ordinary Españolans see every single day — that crime is out of control and something needs to be done.”

The party’s release attributed a drop in crime nationwide to President Donald Trump’s “America First policies and his decisive action to secure the border,” with party chair Amy Barela saying “the people of Española deserve more than just street counselors and the [public safety aide]-like model in Albuquerque — they deserve action that addresses the root of the problem.”

Earlier this year, Lujan Grisham declared a similar crime emergency in Albuquerque and deployed about 70 National Guard troops there, also allocating $750,000 for the operation. They have been assisting Albuquerque police with tasks such as securing crime scenes, booking people into jail and tagging evidence, and are not armed or authorized to make arrests.

Trump has called up the National Guard for law enforcement purposes twice — in June in response to protests against immigration enforcement in Los Angeles and again earlier this week as part of a federal crackdown on crime in Washington, D.C. Both times he was roundly criticized by Democrats, including Lujan Grisham, who cast his actions as an abuse of power and said her actions in Albuquerque and now Española are different because they were done in collaboration with local leaders.

“President Trump is attempting to use the National Guard as a city police force in a similar manner he used the military in California, which is about politics, not fighting crime,” Lujan Grisham said in a joint statement Monday with Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller. “The contrast couldn’t be clearer: while President Trump uses the National Guard to trample local leadership, New Mexico brings together local and state governments to make our communities genuinely safer."

Published comments by Greg Mello:

In the murky world of "economic development" -- poorly defined, poorly understood, hyped and spun beyond all recognition -- this political development reminds us that for whatever set of reasons, the massive LANL employment in Rio Arriba County (RAC) has not created "economic development." Unless, of course, "economic development" is defined tautologically as spending money, which is precisely how most of our bought-and-paid-for political elite define it. "Economic development" has been de-linked from human purposes and values, reducing it to simple sums of money, which we are all trained to consider the highest human good. LANL's role in Rio Arriba County employment is massive. See "If Los Alamos is bringing economic development to New Mexico, why is the neighboring County of Rio Arriba performing so poorly?"

The 2,398 LANL employees residing in RAC pulled in $291 million in LANL salaries in fiscal year 2023. This does not including the substantial sums paid to subcontractors. Since there were only 9,462 employees total in RAC that year, LANL employees comprise 31% of all employees in the County -- again not counting LANL subcontractors, of which there are hundreds.

Given the enormous economic influence of LANL on Rio Arriba's economy, the County's relative rankings within New Mexico in key social indicators can tell us, more than any other observable measure, how much "economic development" LANL really brings. That relative ranking within New Mexico in effect "cancels out" the effect of statewide variables and policies.

So what do we see in RAC? Despite over $200 million in LANL jobs, plus more in subcontracting, we see that Rio Arriba ranks in the worse half of New Mexico counties in poverty overall, and has the 4th highest ranking in poverty of minors and elderly. It has the highest rate of accidental death of any New Mexico county, the second-highest rate of alcohol-related deaths and the highest rate of drug overdose deaths. Rio Arriba's per capita income, food security, and child food security rankings are in the bottom half of New Mexico counties. Rio Arriba County does poorly, despite all its LANL jobs.

This neither proves nor disproves that proximity to LANL, with all its high-paying jobs, has caused this poor economic and social performance. What it does prove, in broad-brush but irrefutable fashion, is that LANL is not any kind of "economic development" engine. Rio Arriba's problems continue despite 80 years of LANL spending, to the tune of approximately $150 billion, total, in today's dollars.

New Mexico's congressional delegation believes that LANL creates economic development, and fiercely supports spending money -- any kind of money -- at LANL. The data show that LANL does NOT create economic development. The political advocacy for LANL by the New Mexico delegation turns out to be an excuse, not a reason, for taking the easy, unthinking path of accepting LANL's political support and the substantial contributions available from its employees, who are contractors and thus not covered by the Hatch Act.

As a former Air Force and Pentagon economist put it 20 years ago,"Those who think LANL creates economic development are people for whom 60 years of data are not enough." Now it's 80 years, and the most telling part of the region, the excuse for all the nuclear pandering, is doing worse than ever. Now, thanks to massive new spending at LANL, there is equally massive gentrification going on in LANL's commuter-shed. Housing costs are being jacked up. The Albuquerque Journal recently reported that less than 10% of RAC renters could afford to buy a median-priced home in the County. The inequality effects of LANL employment vastly overshadow whatever positive effects from spending money per se. LANL creates "an aura of apartheid" in its shadow, with overwhelming negative social and political effects. Our political leaders need treatment for LANL addiction, a form of political heroin. It's killing us.