New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is demanding the federal government pay reparations to her state after accusing the Drug Enforcement Administration of allowing millions of fentanyl pills to flood New Mexico during an undercover operation without telling state or local officials.
Speaking at a news conference Monday, Lujan Grisham called the alleged operation "the most derelict, despicable act in my long career." She said New Mexico has been forced to spend more than $1.5 billion on law enforcement, behavioral health, addiction treatment, and other public safety efforts while fighting overdose deaths and widespread addiction that she links to the DEA operation.
"The DEA stood silently by and watched thousands of fentanyl pills get distributed with no arrests, no evidence, no notice that we know of anywhere else," Lujan Grisham said. "Someone must pay for the damage to this state, the public safety risks that will be shared by everyone here for a decade."
The governor wants the federal government to reimburse New Mexico for all costs related to combating the fentanyl epidemic, including law enforcement operations, behavioral health services, addiction treatment, overdose prevention, and other public safety initiatives. She also called on Congress to prohibit similar DEA operations in the future, require the federal government to fully fund costs imposed on states by such operations, and hold the officials involved personally accountable.
Lujan Grisham said this is not the first time she has faced this kind of situation. "I've had to do this since 2019 three times," she said. "We're here again, and this one, in fact, I think is the most devastating."
She compared the DEA controversy to other federal failures she said have harmed her state, including the COVID-19 pandemic response and a U.S. Forest Service prescribed burn that grew into New Mexico's largest wildfire on record. That fire ultimately led to a multibillion-dollar federal liability settlement, and she argued the DEA operation should result in similar accountability.
The Democratic governor said her administration had repeatedly asked both the Biden and Trump administrations for more federal resources to combat the crisis, including additional DEA agents and coordinated enforcement efforts. Those requests went unanswered. "Everybody behind me and the Office of the Governor have been asking both administrations… to do more about public safety in the state of New Mexico," she said, adding that her administration sent multiple letters and held multiple meetings, yet "it's been remarkably silent."
Among her specific demands, Lujan Grisham urged lawmakers to restore roughly $25 million in federal behavioral health and public safety funding she said has been cut, require advance notification to state and local officials before similar operations are conducted, and pass legislation preventing the DEA from using similar tactics in the future. Her remarks came days after New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez made a separate announcement related to the same operation.