Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico is urging the federal government to compensate her state, following allegations that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) permitted a massive influx of fentanyl pills during a clandestine operation without informing state or local authorities.
Describing the operation as “the most negligent and despicable act” throughout her extensive career, Lujan Grisham highlighted that the resulting consequences have compelled New Mexico to invest over $1.5 billion in law enforcement, mental health services, addiction treatment, and additional public safety measures as they confront rising overdose deaths and a tide of addiction.
“The DEA remained passive as numerous fentanyl pills were disseminated without any arrests, evidence, or notification, as far as we are aware,” Lujan Grisham stated during a news conference on Monday. “There needs to be accountability for the harm inflicted on this state and for the long-term public safety threats that will affect everyone here for years to come.”
Lujan Grisham is requesting federal reimbursement for the expenditures New Mexico has dedicated to fighting the fentanyl crisis. This includes funding for law enforcement activities, mental health programs, addiction treatments, overdose prevention, and other public safety efforts.
She further urged Congress to ban such DEA operations in the future, mandate that the federal government cover all costs imposed on states by these actions, and ensure that the officials responsible are held individually accountable.
“I’ve had to do this since 2019 three times,” Lujan Grisham said. “We’re here again, and this one, in fact, I think is the most devastating.”
The Democratic governor compared the controversy to previous federal failures she said harmed New Mexico, including the federal response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the U.S. Forest Service’s prescribed burns that sparked the state’s largest wildfire. She noted the wildfire ultimately resulted in a multibillion-dollar federal liability settlement, arguing the DEA operation should lead to similar accountability.
Lujan Grisham said her administration repeatedly asked both the Biden and Trump administrations for more federal resources to combat New Mexico’s escalating fentanyl crisis, including additional DEA agents and coordinated enforcement efforts, but 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 held multiple meetings, sent multiple letters and requested additional resources and agents, yet “it’s been remarkably silent.”
Lujan Grisham also urged lawmakers to require federal agencies to notify state and local officials before conducting similar operations, restore roughly $25 million in federal behavioral health and public safety funding she said has been cut and enact legislation preventing similar DEA tactics from being used in the future.
Her remarks came days after New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez announced a criminal investigation into allegations that the DEA knowingly allowed hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills to reach New Mexico communities while agents pursued larger criminal investigations.
The Associated Press previously reported that DEA agents repeatedly monitored, but did not seize, large fentanyl shipments between 2023 and 2025 while attempting to build broader criminal cases.
Torrez said the investigation will examine potential legal remedies, including criminal prosecution, civil litigation and structural reforms intended to prevent similar conduct by DEA agents in the future.
“The families who have lost children, siblings, and parents to fentanyl deserve the truth about what the federal government knew and what it failed to do,” Torrez said in a statement.
“If the DEA stood by while poison flooded our communities, that is not a bureaucratic failure,” he continued. “It is a betrayal of the people it was sworn to protect.”
Torrez said his office “will pursue every legal avenue available to hold the responsible parties accountable and make certain this never happens again.”
On Monday, Lujan Grisham echoed Torrez’s call for accountability, saying those who approved or oversaw the operation should face consequences.
“I want the people who knew this distribution was occurring without notifying anyone and allowing it to occur over and over again held accountable,” Lujan Grisham said. “My bet is many of those people are still in that DEA office.”
“I am so angry. This is an outrage,” she added. “They should be accountable for the length of time it’s going to take us to combat the scourge of addiction and fentanyl overdose deaths.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to the DEA for comment on the matter.