Lujan Grisham town hall lasts longer than special session

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham promised a crowd of about 500 that she’d stay for as long as they had questions. And she kept that promise, staying for six hours at a town hall in Las Cruces on July 25.

Perhaps the biggest takeaway was Lujan Grisham’s call for the Las Cruces community to pressure local legislators into supporting her crime package that opponents have decried as inhumane and ineffective.

The town hall drew dozens of questions from the public and several statements from the governor about police salaries, involuntary commitment, pretrial detention and other policy issues.

"Do not let me vilify innocent people,” Lujan Grisham said, referring to civil rights organizations. “Do not let me vilify people of color. Do not let me vilify innocent immigrants and their families, and do not let me vilify people on the streets. But I do intend to make New Mexico safer."

Lujan Grisham’s stop in Las Cruces is the first of three following the legislature’s rebuke of her public safety package last week. Notably, the governor’s fellow Democrats in the legislature mostly stayed away from the event except for state Sen. Joseph Cervantes, a Las Cruces Democrat who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee. Two Republican state senators – Mark Moores of Albuquerque and Crystal Diamond Brantley of Elephant Butte – were also in attendance.

The governor convened a special legislative session on July 18. Typically, these sessions last a few days or weeks. This one lasted just five hours, with legislators tossing aside Lujan Grisham’s public safety proposals but approving money for Ruidoso fire relief and money for assisted outpatient treatment in New Mexico courts. The governor has responded to the swift adjournment with anger.

"I think there's a narrative that somehow, I just showed up in July and said, ‘I'm going to make you decide on these five or six bills that you've never seen before and you have exactly a day to deal with them.’ That is false,” Lujan Grisham said.

Over 500 people came to listen and ask question of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and other officials at a town hall devoted to public safety in Las Cruces on July 25, 2024.

A student tells Michelle Lujan Grisham during a Las Cruces town hall on July 25, 2024, that she's disappointed in the governor’s stance on crime.

Doña Ana County District Attorney Gerald Byers addresses over 500 people who attended a town hall meeting devoted to public safety at the Las Cruces Convention Center on July 25, 2024.

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Yet several people who identified themselves as mental healthcare advocates reiterated their position that Lujan Grisham had not included them in building the bills.

“Lujan Grisham came here to hear what she wanted to,” said Nayomi Valdez of ACLU New Mexico. “In six hours, I heard her agree with everything everyone said.”

In Santa Fe, the governor called on lawmakers to ban panhandling in medians, make selling fentanyl a capital offense (the same severity as murder), ease the process for courts to commit people accused of crimes involuntarily, oblige police departments to report crime statistics better, and a crackdown on organized crime, among other public safety topics.

Civil rights organizations called the package dehumanizing, while Democratic lawmakers bashed it as ineffective.

Other lawmakers told the Bulletin that Lujan Grisham’s office prioritized airing the package in the media instead of working with legislators to find common ground. 

But the special session’s adjournment was not the end of the fight. After failure in the Roundhouse, Lujan Grisham took her pitch for a more punitive approach to criminal justice on the road. 

In Las Cruces, she met over 500 people from dozens of walks of life. Conservative organizations, civil rights groups, state senators and police filled two rooms at the Las Cruces Convention Center. 

The questions varied but often focused on issues relevant to the Las Cruces and Doña Ana County communities.

For example, one question concerned a house with trash out front. The questioner said that LCPD codes do not respond. Another stated that police don’t respond to a retail shop in town, while others told the governor they were disappointed in her harder-line stance on crime.

However, the crowd at the convention center largely supported Lujan Grisham’s proposals and LCPD.

“Your presence is power, and we thank you for that. It has been hugely cathartic for our community,” said one person, who stayed until 11:30 p.m. to speak to Lujan Grisham.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham looks to Las Cruces Police Chief Jeremy Story while answering a question at a town hall meeting at the Las Cruces Convention Center on July 25, 2024.

Las Cruces police chief Jeremy Story, appearing on stage with Lujan Grisham and responding to some questions, announced the launch of a law enforcement initiative he called “Operation Not In Vain.” The name makes reference to slain police officer Jonah Hernandez.

Story told the Bulletin after the meeting that the operation would commence in August and feature LCPD partnering with state and federal agencies for an increased police presence in Las Cruces.

“We're targeting several different things,” Story said. “One of them being retail theft, another being our violent repeat offenders.”

Story said the initiative would also see LCPD providing training and resources to businesses to better fortify their locations both with physical barriers and information about insurance.