While the media fixates on the usual suspects like Chicago and San Francisco, a full-blown crime crisis is unfolding in the American Southwest—and it’s every bit as tragic, infuriating, and predictable. Welcome to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where lawlessness isn’t a TV script—it’s real life. And like clockwork, progressive politicians and left-wing legal groups are doing what they do best: handcuffing the police while the criminals run free.

Let’s start with the jaw-dropping case that shocked the country: a hit-and-run homicide that left a cyclist dead, allegedly carried out by a trio of juvenile thugs—ages 15, 12, and yes, 11. The youngest suspect, just a child by legal standards, has already racked up a rap sheet of burglaries and violent crimes. Police were aware of him. They had him on their radar. But what good is a radar when your justice system refuses to act?

And that’s the story here: soft-on-crime policies colliding with harsh reality. Sam Bregman, the district attorney for Bernalillo County (home to Albuquerque), did what any sane public official would do: he pushed the Democrat-controlled state legislature to give him some teeth. Bregman’s bill would’ve allowed prosecutors to try violent juvenile offenders—like the ones allegedly responsible for the cyclist’s murder—as adults. It also included funding for diversion programs. In other words, it wasn’t just about punishment; it was a balanced approach to accountability.

But guess what happened? Every single bill—every one—was shot down. Democrats in the statehouse wouldn’t even back a law that says maybe, just maybe, an 11-year-old serial burglar who kills someone shouldn’t get the same treatment as a truancy case. These are the same politicians who cry crocodile tears when a fentanyl death makes the local news, but balk at doing anything meaningful to prevent the next one.

Meanwhile, New Mexico is drowning in drug overdoses. According to CDC data, it’s ranked seventh in the nation for overdose death rates. Fire Rescue Chief Emily Jaramillo says a walk down Central Avenue tells you everything you need to know—tent cities, addicts slumped over, and rampant drug trafficking. It’s not just sad. It’s a symptom of a state where crime is no longer punished and addiction is politically protected.

Things have gotten so bad that Democrat Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham had no choice but to mobilize the National Guard. That’s right—military boots on the ground to do what local law enforcement no longer has the manpower to handle. They’re not there to take down cartels, mind you. They’re being deployed so the Albuquerque Police Department can actually focus on patrolling the streets. That’s how overwhelmed local cops are in this city.

But in comes the ACLU of New Mexico, right on cue, to warn us that trying to stop chaos is actually dangerous. In their bizarre alternate reality, it’s the police we should be afraid of—not the fentanyl dealers, not the teenage car thieves, and certainly not the 11-year-old repeat offenders. “New Mexico already has one of the highest per capita rates of people killed by police,” the ACLU cried, as if that somehow justifies doing nothing. Apparently, they’d rather police stay sidelined while the streets become war zones.

This isn’t just a New Mexico story. This is a nationwide script written by the radical left. Juvenile criminals are emboldened because the justice system tells them they’ll never face serious consequences. Drug addicts are left to rot on sidewalks because activist groups think it’s “inhumane” to arrest dealers. And anyone who calls for common sense—like prosecuting violent juveniles as adults—is demonized by the same crowd that hands out clean needles and wants to abolish ICE.

What’s happening in Albuquerque is not unique. It’s just the latest example of what happens when Democrats run a state and “criminal justice reform” becomes an excuse to do absolutely nothing about crime. If you want to know what your town might look like in a few years under progressive leadership, take a good long look at what’s happening in New Mexico—because it’s coming for the rest of us next.