Mayor Keller, City Officials Release Statements on President Trump’s Announcement of Federal Agents in Albuquerque

July 22, 2020

Mayor Tim Keller and Chief of Police Mike Geier released the following statements following President Trump’s press conference to announce that he is deploying federal agents to Albuquerque.

“Our hearts are with Mr. Vigil, his family and every family who has been victim to gun violence–a decade-old problem that remains our top priority. Unfortunately, look at the President’s own words: he’s ready to incite violence in Democratic cities as a re-election strategy built on gaslighting immigrants and people of color.

“We always welcome partnerships in constitutional crime fighting that are in step with our community, but we won’t sell out our city for a bait and switch excuse to send secret police to Albuquerque. Operation Legend is not real crime fighting; it’s politics standing in the way of police work and makes us less safe.” ­– Mayor Tim Keller

“Contrary to claims by politicians in Washington. D.C., Albuquerque has been keeping overall violent crime flat and has reduced homicides thus far this year. We have made reducing gun violence a top priority and have worked with our community to make the city safer. While we welcome any assistance and additional resources to address violent crime, the President promised help in the past and has not yet followed through. We are still waiting on the $10 million Operation Relentless Pursuit funding that was promised last year to help us with our goal to hire more officers and to bring in additional federal law enforcement agents to assist us in our crime fighting efforts. While I will try to remain optimistic, I won’t hold my breath until we see all this actually come to fruition.” – Police Chief Michael Geier