Someone must pay for the damage to this state
In the long and troubled history of federal drug enforcement, a reckoning has arrived in New Mexico — where Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham now accuses the DEA of allowing millions of fentanyl pills to circulate through her state's communities between 2023 and 2025, sacrificing public safety in pursuit of larger criminal networks. The state, left without warning or partnership, absorbed the human and financial wreckage: thousands of overdose deaths, widespread addiction, and more than $1.5 billion in emergency spending. Her demand for federal reparations raises a question as old as governance itself — when the protector becomes the source of harm, who answers for the cost?
- The DEA watched hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills move through New Mexico communities for two years, choosing surveillance over seizure and never alerting state or local officials.
- Thousands of people died from overdoses and addiction spread across communities while New Mexico spent over $1.5 billion responding to a crisis it did not know was being federally engineered.
- Governor Lujan Grisham publicly called the operation 'the most derelict, despicable act' of her career, demanding reparations, congressional reform, and personal accountability for those involved.
- State Attorney General Raúl Torrez has opened a criminal investigation, framing the DEA's conduct not as bureaucratic failure but as a betrayal of the agency's sworn duty to protect the public.
- With the DEA silent and prior requests to both the Biden and Trump administrations unanswered, New Mexico is now pursuing legal, legislative, and structural remedies to prevent any repetition.
On Monday, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham made a striking public accusation: the DEA had deliberately allowed millions of fentanyl pills to flood her state during a two-year undercover operation, and the federal government now owed New Mexico reparations for the consequences.
From 2023 to 2025, DEA agents repeatedly identified large fentanyl shipments moving through New Mexico communities. Rather than seize the drugs, they monitored the networks, hoping to build broader criminal cases. State and local law enforcement were never notified. Hundreds of thousands of pills reached the streets, and the human toll followed — thousands of overdose deaths and an addiction crisis that cost the state more than $1.5 billion in law enforcement, treatment, and prevention spending.
Lujan Grisham called on Congress to ban such operations, require federal reimbursement for costs imposed on states, restore $25 million in cut behavioral health funding, and mandate that federal agencies notify state officials before conducting similar work. She drew a direct parallel to the federal wildfire liability settlement New Mexico had already won, arguing the DEA operation deserved no different treatment. She also revealed that requests to both the Biden and Trump administrations for additional DEA resources had gone unanswered.
Attorney General Raúl Torrez reinforced the governor's position, announcing a criminal investigation into whether the DEA had knowingly allowed the distribution to continue. His office is exploring prosecution, civil litigation, and structural reform. Torrez called it not a bureaucratic failure but a betrayal — and said the families who lost loved ones deserved the full truth. The DEA had not responded to requests for comment.
New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham stood before reporters on Monday and made a stark accusation: the Drug Enforcement Administration had allowed millions of fentanyl pills to flood her state while conducting an undercover operation, and now the federal government owed her state reparations for the damage.
The operation in question spanned from 2023 to 2025. During that period, DEA agents repeatedly identified large shipments of fentanyl moving through New Mexico communities. They watched. They monitored. They documented. But they did not seize the drugs. Instead, they let the pills circulate, hoping to build larger criminal cases against the networks supplying them. Hundreds of thousands of pills reached the streets of New Mexico without state or local law enforcement being notified that a federal operation was underway.
Lujan Grisham called it "the most derelict, despicable act in my long career." She pointed to the bill her state has been forced to pay: more than $1.5 billion poured into law enforcement operations, behavioral health services, addiction treatment programs, and overdose prevention efforts. That money came from New Mexico's budget while the state grappled with escalating overdose deaths and widespread addiction. The governor framed the demand simply: someone had to answer for what the federal government had done to her state.
"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," she said. She called on Congress to prohibit such operations in the future, to require the federal government to fully fund the costs imposed on states by its enforcement tactics, and to hold the officials involved personally accountable. She also demanded that federal agencies notify state and local officials before conducting similar operations, and she urged lawmakers to restore roughly $25 million in federal behavioral health and public safety funding that had been cut.
Lujan Grisham's frustration extended beyond this single operation. She noted that she had confronted similar federal failures three times since 2019—the inadequate COVID-19 response, the U.S. Forest Service's prescribed burns that sparked New Mexico's largest wildfire. That wildfire ultimately resulted in a multibillion-dollar federal liability settlement. She saw no reason why the DEA operation should be treated differently. She also revealed that her administration had repeatedly asked both the Biden and Trump administrations for additional resources to combat the fentanyl crisis—more DEA agents, coordinated enforcement efforts—but those requests had been met with silence.
The governor's demand for accountability echoed a criminal investigation already underway. New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez had announced that his office was examining whether the DEA had knowingly allowed the fentanyl to reach communities. His investigation would explore criminal prosecution, civil litigation, and structural reforms. "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. He characterized the situation not as bureaucratic failure but as betrayal—a violation of the DEA's sworn duty to protect the public.
Lujan Grisham's anger was visible. "I want the people who knew this distribution was occurring without notifying anyone and allowing it to occur over and over again held accountable," she said. "My bet is many of those people are still in that DEA office." She emphasized that those responsible should face consequences for the years it would take New Mexico to combat the addiction crisis and overdose deaths that had resulted from the operation. The DEA had not responded to requests for comment.
Citas Notables
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.— Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham
If the DEA stood by while poison flooded our communities, that is not a bureaucratic failure. It is a betrayal of the people it was sworn to protect.— Attorney General Raúl Torrez
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why would the DEA allow fentanyl to flood a state if they were supposed to be stopping drugs?
They were trying to build bigger cases. The theory was that by letting the pills move, they could trace the networks upstream and catch the major suppliers. But they never told New Mexico what was happening.
So the state was fighting an epidemic it didn't know was being deliberately fed?
Exactly. New Mexico was spending $1.5 billion on treatment, law enforcement, overdose prevention—all while a federal agency was running an operation that made the problem worse. And no one told them.
Did the operation actually work? Did they catch the big criminals?
The source doesn't say. What we know is that hundreds of thousands of pills reached communities, people died, and there were no arrests mentioned in connection with the operation itself.
What does the governor actually want now?
Money back. A ban on future operations like this. Personal accountability for the DEA officials who approved it. And a requirement that federal agencies tell states before they do something like this again.
Is there any chance she gets it?
The attorney general is investigating. There's a precedent—the wildfire settlement was multibillion dollars. But whether Congress or the courts will hold the DEA accountable is still open.