Staggering fentanyl amounts hit streets as experts express concerns
Bill Hemmer of Fox News sheds light on an Associated Press investigation that uncovers a growing fentanyl crisis in New Mexico. The report alleges that the DEA permitted over a million fentanyl pills to infiltrate communities from 2023 to 2025. Tristan Leavitt, a lawyer representing DEA whistleblowers, asserts that agents witnessed the distribution of this lethal drug. Medical analyst Dr. Marc Siegel also points to a significant 21% increase in overdose fatalities in the state.
Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico is calling for financial reparations from the federal government. She accuses the DEA of facilitating the influx of millions of fentanyl pills into the state during an undercover sting operation, without alerting local or state authorities.
Expressing her outrage, Lujan Grisham described the covert operation as “the most derelict, despicable act in my long career.” She highlighted that the repercussions have compelled New Mexico to invest over $1.5 billion in law enforcement, mental health services, addiction treatment, and other essential public safety measures to combat the surge in overdose deaths and rampant addiction.
During a news conference on Monday, Lujan Grisham criticized the DEA for passively observing as thousands of fentanyl pills were distributed without making arrests, gathering evidence, or notifying any officials. “Someone must account for the damage inflicted on this state,” she stated, emphasizing the enduring public safety risks New Mexico will face for years to come.
The governor is seeking reimbursement from the federal government for New Mexico’s expenditures on addressing the fentanyl crisis. This includes funding for law enforcement operations, mental health support, addiction treatment programs, overdose prevention efforts, and various public safety initiatives.
A Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) chemist checks confiscated powder containing fentanyl at the DEA Northeast Regional Laboratory on October 8, 2019, in New York. (Don EMMERT / AFP via Getty Images)
She also called on Congress to prohibit similar DEA operations in the future, require the federal government to fully fund the costs imposed on states by such operations and hold the officials involved personally 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.”
New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham speaks at a rally hosted by the Democratic Party of New Mexico at Ted M. Gallegos Community Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on November 3, 2022. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)
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.”
Fentanyl pills seized in New Mexico on April 28, 2025, as the agency faces scrutiny over allegations it allowed other shipments to reach the streets. (DEA via AP)
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.”
News Media has reached out to the DEA for comment on the matter.