Lujan Grisham loses it over Trump’s D.C. Police takeover

President Donald Trump’s decision to federalize the Washington, D.C., police force and deploy 800 National Guard troops to crack down on violent crime has triggered a performative political uproar from leftists—not least from New Mexico’s far-left Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who joined Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller in issuing a lengthy joint statement denouncing the move as “massive executive overreach.”

The president announced Monday that the Metropolitan Police Department would be placed under the authority of U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi for 30 days under the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, citing surging violent crime, carjackings, and homicides over the past several years. FBI Director Kash Patel was on the ground at the command post, telling Fox News Digital, “When you let good cops be cops, give them the tools they need, and back them every step of the way, they deliver—every time.”

But Lujan Grisham was quick to lash out at the plan. In her statement, she accused Trump of making “unilateral decisions that appear politically motivated” and claimed the deployment demonstrated a “fundamental misunderstanding of effective public safety strategy.” 

She warned the move “sets a dangerous precedent and undermines safety in our nation’s capital,” even as Trump cited statistics showing carjackings have more than tripled in recent years. This comes after she unilaterally attempted to suspend New Mexicans’ rights to bear arms and was immediately halted by a federal judge, which we thoroughly reported on at the time.

The governor’s joint release with Keller painted Trump’s move as an authoritarian stunt, likening it to his previous use of the National Guard in California amid far-left riots and attacks on federal police. “This is about politics, not fighting crime,” they argued, ignoring the District’s long-standing reputation for lax enforcement under the city’s far-left council and mayor’s office.

While Washington’s Democrat leaders insist crime is dropping—citing a 26% decline in total offenses this year—Trump countered that murders remain higher than in some of the most notoriously dangerous cities worldwide and that the city has endured the highest murder rate in decades.

Lujan Grisham, however, framed the takeover as an assault on “local leadership,” contrasting it with New Mexico’s model of state and local cooperation. “Here in New Mexico, we address public safety challenges by bringing local and state resources together,” she said, touting programs that send the National Guard to provide support roles rather than direct policing, all tactics that have proven inconsequential to say the least.

Under her tenure, New Mexico has remained one of the most dangerous states in the country, plagued by rising violent crime rates in Albuquerque and beyond. Many see her outrage over Trump’s D.C. intervention as more about partisan politics than public safety—especially given her vocal opposition to virtually every major Trump law-and-order initiative.

The governor’s warning that Trump’s actions “do nothing to keep Americans safe” stands in stark contrast to Patel’s on-the-ground endorsement of the effort, not to mention the other public safety results the President has delivered, such as zero illegal border crossings and resources being delivered to law enforcement via the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025. The FBI chief said the operation’s goal is simple: restore law and order to the capital by giving law enforcement full federal backing.