Fentanyl overdoses have been at crisis levels in New Mexico for the past three years. State leaders are calling for a mix of punitive and community-based strategies to combat the fatal drug amid a White House push to seal off the Southern border.
While President Donald Trump has sent troops to the U.S.-Mexico border to curb immigration and the flow of fentanyl, a move backed by New Mexico Republicans, many Democrats in the blue border state of New Mexico have said his policy will do little to help residents who are suffering from addiction or are at risk from the cartels.
The most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that in 2022 the state recorded one of the highest overdose rates in the country from the synthetic opioid, with fentanyl-related deaths making up 63 percent of fatalities. This rose in 2023, with fentanyl use making up 66.7 percent of drug-related deaths in the state.
Fentanyl remains a killer, even as New Mexico has seen a fall in total overdose deaths across the state, per New Mexico Health.
Democrat Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham has been vocal about strengthening penalties for fentanyl traffickers but has firmly opposed the militarization of the border.
“The governor is working with the New Mexico Legislature to stiffen penalties for fentanyl dealers,” Michael Coleman, her communications director, told Newsweek. “She does not support militarizing the U.S. border.”
Ash Soular, a spokeswoman for the Republican Party of New Mexico, told Newsweek that state Republicans back Trump’s plans to use the military to curb the flow of drugs entering the country.
“New Mexico will also benefit from military presence at our border to enhance surveillance and interception efforts against fentanyl shipments and to provide a stronger deterrent against smugglers,” she said.
“Our fentanyl crisis requires a stronger military presence to stop smuggling at our border, especially after Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham withdrew the National Guard in 2019 and recently pledged to oppose enforcement of Trump’s immigration policies.”
Lujan Grisham previously told Newsweek the state’s National Guard would not assist with federal immigration enforcement operations, slamming the policy as detrimental to families and the state’s economy.
Soular also told Newsweek: “The political landscape in New Mexico is dominated by Democrat leadership, which has downplayed the border crisis until it became a politicized issue, and the consequences have been dire: loss of lives, victims of crime, rising homelessness and an overwhelmed border patrol.”
Bernalillo County, which includes Albuquerque, is one of the hardest-hit areas in New Mexico for drug overdoses, with 456 people dying from fentanyl in the county in 2021.
Sam Bregman, the district attorney for Bernalillo County, spoke with Newsweek about what his county is doing to combat the deadly drug.
Bregman said: “Fentanyl is by far the worst drug we have on the streets. It’s cheap, abundant, deadly and can quickly destroy families and entire communities.
“HIDTA/High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area is one of our greatest support tools, both for its funding and its intelligence shop. It allows law enforcement to home in on fentanyl-specific issues and assign personnel that can specialize in this area specifically.
“There has also been a sharp increase in demand for diversion programming since the onset of the fentanyl crisis. Young Adult Court, Drug Court and our own Pre-Prosecution Diversion program have record-high numbers of participants.
“Low-level distributors and offenders who are struggling with fentanyl are given resources and tools to combat their addiction. These programs have proven to be essential for addressing the root problems of substance abuse disorder and have changed lives.”
Bregman spoke about the idea of not being able to “prosecute our way out of this problem.” And he said immigration crackdowns along the border and in the state may make it more difficult for people to come forward against drug dealers and cartels.
“Our fear is that addicts who do not have legal status are less likely to get treatment, and cartels will have an easier time intimidating the migrant community in regard to reporting their operations,” he said. “We need a strong community response with real leadership to overcome this complicated problem. Part of that is making informed decisions and pursuing justice against those who prey on vulnerable communities and use this deadly drug for profit.
“Another part is understanding that most people in these communities are law-abiding citizens who just want to feel safe while they walk their kids to the park. Any response to the fentanyl crisis should ensure that we pursue justice for those abusing the system while also ensuring the safety and rights of all those who just want their neighborhoods back.”
Bregman said he does not believe “troops on the border” will make a big difference to the fentanyl supply, as it is smuggled via road or water routes, not by drug mules.
He said what will help, in his opinion, on top of law enforcement is an increase in Behavioral Health funding.
“Fentanyl is extremely cheap and abundant,” Bregman said. “If issues like mental health and housing are left unaddressed, the chances are high that we will lose that person to fentanyl and they will quickly become involved in the criminal justice system.”
Not only is fentanyl largely not smuggled in by individual drug mules, but in 2021, U.S. citizens accounted for 86.3 percent of convicted fentanyl drug traffickers, a figure 10 times higher than the convictions of illegal immigrants for the same crime, according to a report by the Cato Institute, a right-wing think tank.
Representative Teresa Leger Fernández, who represents New Mexico’s 3rd Congressional District, has called for increased federal funding for fentanyl detection and enforcement.
“It is the American citizens who are bringing in the fentanyl, and they’re doing so at our border checkpoints,” Fernández told Newsweek. “We need to invest in the technology that will identify and find the fentanyl that is hidden in the vehicles that cross our border at the checkpoints. They’re smuggling it in trucks and boats, and that’s where we need to invest our money.
“Instead, what he is doing is trying to demonize immigrants who are not the cause of the fentanyl crisis. The cause of the fentanyl crisis are the criminals who are bringing it in at the border, and we need to invest in going after those criminals, not demonizing people who come here to work and who we depend on for our agricultural and construction sector.”
Austin Kocher, an immigration expert at Syracuse University, warns that militarizing the border could exacerbate the problem by creating new opportunities for smugglers to bypass authorities.
“The more that our border gets militarized, the more that smugglers make money off of this and the more that people will find desperate attempts around and creative attempts around,” Kocher said.
“The military is really good at doing whatever you tell it to do, the Border Patrol not so much. Border Patrol is a little bit of a loose cannon as an agency and it has a history of that. They’re just kind out there by themselves. The military is quite different—as much as the Border Patrol likes to think of themselves as a military force, they’re not. They’re not disciplined in the same way that the military is or even the National Guard can be.”
Meanwhile, Mexico has agreed to send 10,000 troops to the southern border as part of a deal to work with the Trump administration to stem the flow of narcotics entering the country.
While the federal debate rages, state leaders are implementing their own measures. Lujan Grisham recently issued Executive Order 2024-013, directing state agencies to coordinate efforts against fentanyl trafficking. Additionally, the New Mexico Public Education Department has declared October 14-18 as “Fentanyl Poisoning Awareness Week” to educate communities about the dangers of the drug.
Despite differing political approaches, one thing is clear: New Mexico is facing an urgent crisis, and leaders across the political spectrum will need to find common ground to prevent further loss of life while navigating around Trump’s plans to carry out large-scale mass deportations.
“Those immigrants are doing important work for society,” Fernández said. “Let them do their work, and let’s focus on the real problem, which is the fentanyl being smuggled in at the border. Let’s invest in the technology we need to stop that fentanyl.”
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