The people of New Mexico are scratching their heads at the reported arrival of federal security forces called in by the White House to quell what they call an explosion of violence and unrest in the state’s largest city, Albuquerque. But as the Albuquerque Journal reports:
“Recently released crime statistics from APD show a decrease in property crime from 2018 to 2019 and violent crime holding steady. Although homicides spiked in 2019, this year, has had fewer cases. violent crimes are reportedly down.“
Oops. Pesky facts. Bernalillo County Sheriff Manuel Gonzales says...
“Today’s announcement from the federal government speaks for itself, and the local FBI also made it clear what Operation Legend special agents will do: combat Albuquerque’s out of control crime crisis and solve homicides.”
This is a sheriff who is infamous for opposing body cameras for his deputies, btw. New Mexico’s generally un-reactionary, moderate U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich has taken the extraordinary step of asking the sheriff to resign.
All this and more has stirred up quite a lot of interest on Twitter under the hashtag #WhyAlbuquerque? The tweets say it better than I can and I encourage you to look it up and read lots more:
You might need to click on the tweet below to see the video (it’s worth it).
The big question is what will happen if people start protesting the federal presence. The reaction has already started. And as we have seen in Portland, peaceful protestors are always conflated with violent crime by this administration.