Commissioner says Eastside Gallup roadblock was coordinated enforcement effort

McKinley County Commissioner Bill Lee said the eastside Historic Highway 66 roadblock was not an isolated action but part of a coordinated enforcement effort during the 72-hour lockdown of Gallup that took effect at 12 p.m. on May 1, 2020, authorized by Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham and involving Gallup city police, the McKinley County sheriff’s department, New Mexico State Police, the Department of Transportation and support from the New Mexico National Guard in a non-law enforcement capacity.

Lee urged urgency in his letter to the governor and framed the operation around a steep local rise in infections: “The truth is now one in 70 people in our county has this virus,” he said, adding, “Those are crazy numbers.” In the same letter Lee wrote, “You and your team have worked diligently with the leadership from the Navajo Nation, Zuni Pueblo, City of Gallup, our local Representatives, Senators and, McKinley County seeking solutions and taking the best steps possible. I want you to know that I personally support these coordinated efforts and the request made by our Mayor.”

The lockdown imposed a number of operational rules intended to limit movement into Gallup: all roads into the city closed at noon on May 1, businesses were ordered to close from 5 p.m. through 8 a.m., vehicles were limited to two occupants, residents were ordered to stay home except for emergencies or essential needs, and residents returning to the city were required to provide proof of residence while non-residents were allowed exceptions for emergencies and health matters. Field observations at the eastside checkpoint found “only a few cars were funneling through Gallup’s eastside Historic Highway 66 roadblock checkpoint on Sunday morning,” and officials reported roadblocks at various entrances to town as shoppers and business owners raced to prepare.

The sudden noon start of the quarantine created immediate bottlenecks. Local accounts described “huge traffic bottlenecks” as shoppers and residents scrambled and noted that at 11:30 a.m. there were still long lines at stores and ATM’s. Incoming Mayor Louis Bonaguidi, who had been sworn in at 2:30 p.m. on April 30, signaled he was “leaning toward extending the closure,” a position Lee said he agreed with: “I think that might be the right action to take.” Lee also cautioned, “There’s a concern that there will be a massive flood back into town and I think we kind of need to stagger that and make it more manageable,” and acknowledged uncertainty: “We just don’t know yet,” he said.

Senator George Muñoz of Gallup framed the three-day quarantine as both a health and economic judgment, saying, “Thus, we are restricting travel in and out of the county, establishing a quarantine, for the next three days. We will assess each day afterwards until the spread of the virus is reducing.” Officials circulated mayoral and county letters requesting a state of emergency under the Riot Control Act, 12-10-16 to 12-10-21 NMSA 1978, and those letters were submitted to the governor.

State and local materials outlining the lockdown and the checkpoint deployments provided operational rules and agency names but did not include case counts, testing numbers, the precise number or locations of all checkpoints, or whether any citations or arrests resulted from enforcement. Officials said assessments would continue daily as county and tribal leadership, including Navajo Nation and Zuni Pueblo partners, weighed whether to extend the measures to curb what county leaders described as an alarming increase of COVID-19 cases.