New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham accused the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) of fueling the state's fentanyl crisis and demanded the federal government pay compensation. Grisham alleged that during a covert operation the DEA conducted between 2023 and 2025, it remained silent as millions of fentanyl pills reached the streets and failed to notify state authorities.
Governor Grisham said at a press conference on Monday, "This is the most irresponsible and disgusting act I have seen in my long career." She stated that due to the DEA's stance, New Mexico's law enforcement agencies had to allocate over $1.5 billion in resources to behavioral health services, addiction treatment, and other public safety initiatives.
Grisham said, "The DEA silently watched the distribution of thousands of fentanyl pills without making any arrests, collecting evidence, or notifying anyone as far as we know." "Someone must pay for the damage done to this state and the public safety risks that everyone will share for a decade."
The governor demanded that the federal government reimburse New Mexico's spending to combat the fentanyl epidemic, that Congress ban similar DEA operations in the future, and that those responsible be held personally accountable.
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez recently announced he had launched a criminal investigation into the DEA. According to the Associated Press (AP), DEA agents repeatedly monitored large fentanyl shipments between 2023 and 2025 while trying to build larger criminal cases but did not intervene.
Torrez said the investigation would examine all legal avenues, including criminal prosecution, civil lawsuits, and structural reforms to prevent similar behavior in the future. "Families who have lost children, siblings, and parents to fentanyl deserve the truth about what the federal government knew and what it did not do," he said.
Torrez stated, "If the DEA stood by and watched while poison flowed into our communities, that is not a bureaucratic failure; it is a betrayal of the people it swore to protect."
Governor Grisham has previously highlighted federal failures that harmed New Mexico. Citing examples such as the federal response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the U.S. Forest Service's controlled burn that led to the state's largest wildfire, Grisham argued that the fire resulted in a multibillion-dollar federal liability agreement and that the DEA operation should lead to similar accountability.
Grisham said her administration requested more federal resources, additional DEA agents, and coordinated efforts to combat New Mexico's growing fentanyl crisis under both the Biden and Trump administrations, but those requests went unanswered. "We asked both administrations to do more for public safety in New Mexico," Grisham said, adding that multiple meetings were held and letters sent, but they were met with "a remarkable silence."
The governor also called for legislation requiring federal agencies to notify state and local authorities before similar operations, the restoration of approximately $25 million in interrupted federal behavioral health and public safety funding, and legislation to prevent the use of similar DEA tactics in the future.
Emphasizing that those who approved or supervised the operation must be held accountable, Grisham said, "I want those who knew this distribution was carried out repeatedly without notifying anyone to be held responsible." "This is a source of anger. They must be held accountable for as long as it takes for us to combat addiction and fentanyl deaths."
