New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is demanding the federal government pay reparations after accusing the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) of allowing millions of fentanyl pills to flood her state during an undercover operation without notifying state or local officials.
Calling the alleged operation “the most derelict, despicable act in my long career,” Lujan Grisham said the fallout has forced New Mexico to pour more than $1.5 billion into law enforcement, behavioral health, addiction treatment and other public safety initiatives while battling overdose deaths and widespread addiction.
“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 during a Monday news conference. “Someone must pay for the damage to this state, the public safety risks that will be shared by everyone here for a decade.”
Lujan Grisham said she wants the federal government to reimburse New Mexico for the money it has spent 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 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.”
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
