Lujan Grisham expresses frustration with feds over cannabis seizures in leaked audio

Apr. 26—Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has made no secret of her frustration with the seizure of recreational and medicinal marijuana from licensed distributors in New Mexico at U.S. Border Patrol checkpoints in the southern part of the state.

But it's always been through the lens of carefully worded statements issued by her communications office.

Until now.

An unauthorized audio recording of Lujan Grisham having a private telephone conversation on a recent airplane flight captured the governor voicing her unfiltered grievances to an unidentified high-ranking official in the Biden administration.

Lujan Grisham said in the recording she's being hounded by the news media over the seizures and threatens to write a letter accusing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security of failing to work with her administration on immigration.

"The press also knows that Border Patrol is taking a hard stance, and the only way is either we have to adjust it, or I have to send you a letter saying, 'You're persecuting a state. You're not using your discretion. You're not working with me on immigration,' and I don't want to send that letter," she said. "But I'm boxed in, hard."

The recording was posted Thursday night on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, by Tore Maras, who runs the website "Tore Says." Maras, who has more than 38,000 followers, uses the name "Chaos Coordinator" on X.

Lujan Grisham said in the recording she's "cranky" with the "secretary" — an apparent reference to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

Jodi McGinnis Porter, a spokeswoman for the governor, confirmed Friday it is Lujan Grisham in the recording.

"This unauthorized and edited recording of the governor's private phone call reflects what she has already said publicly — that she is frustrated by federal seizures of licensed cannabis products in New Mexico, particularly those from small producers," McGinnis Porter said in a statement. "She has expressed the same concerns in phone calls with Secretary Mayorkas."

The Governor's Office declined to disclose when or where the conversation took place. But a flight attendant appears to make an announcement at one point during the recording.

Lujan Grisham said in the recording Mayorkas should be ashamed for telling her the state's cannabis companies can absorb the financial losses stemming from the seizures.

"Here's what also the secretary said to me, just so you know: 'Oh, who cares? They make a lot of money,' " she said.

"Well, first of all, it's patients' medicine," she said, referring to medicinal marijuana. "So I was really offended by that. Shame on him."

The governor then said New Mexico is the only state that lets "baby producers," or smaller, homegrown cannabis companies, into the legalized market.

"If they lose a load, their business goes belly up," she said.

Ben Lewinger, executive director of the New Mexico Chamber of Commerce, echoed the governor's concerns about so-called microproducers. He said he knows of a bigger cannabis company that had $130,000 worth of product seized.

"If it were a smaller, baby producer — a microproducer — that could be the end of their business ... and of course, there's no insurance products in this industry that covers that kind of loss," he said.

Lewinger said there are "reverberations from every seizure" across the state.

"Some of the very best cannabis, some of the very best manufactured cannabis products, are coming out of Southern New Mexico, and there are retailers across the state that want those products on their shelves," he said. "I know of a couple that paid cash for product that was seized, and I'm not sure if they were made whole. And if they're made whole, then it's an additional loss on the folks who had stuff seized at the checkpoint."

The federal government describes U.S. Customs and Border Protection as the nation's first line of defense in preventing the illegal importation of narcotics, including marijuana.

"Although medical and recreational marijuana may be legal in some U.S. states and Canada, the sale, possession, production and distribution of marijuana or the facilitation of the aforementioned remain illegal under U.S. federal law, given the classification of marijuana as a Schedule I controlled substance," Erin Heeter, a DHS spokesperson, wrote in an email.

"Consequently, individuals violating the Controlled Substances Act encountered while crossing the border, arriving at a U.S. port of entry, or at a Border Patrol checkpoint may be deemed inadmissible and/or subject to seizure, fines, and/or arrest," Heeter wrote.

In the recording, Lujan Grisham called the secretary's remarks "really inappropriate."

"Whatever you all want to do about that, but it was really inappropriate," she said.

"I've held off the press," she added. "I got a nasty, 'The governor's feckless and is going to let Biden walk all over her.' I can't have that."

It's unclear to whom the governor is talking in the recording. The social media post claimed it was a conversation with Homeland Security Chief of Staff Jonathan Davidson.

McGinnis Porter said the governor wasn't talking to Davidson but "another high-level administration official with the federal government," though she declined to reveal the person's identity.

The initial social media post of the recording, which was reposted early Friday and "pinned" to generate more attention, had generated more than 35,000 views by Friday afternoon.

Senate Minority Leader Greg Baca of Belen issued a statement in response to the recording, urging the governor to verify its validity and explain its context.

"In the leaked audio, there is substantive discussion about the border crisis, including the flow of illegal immigrants and drugs into New Mexico, and the unwillingness of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to act," Baca said. "New Mexicans deserve to know what their elected officials are doing to keep our state safe, and I hope the Governor will bring some clarity to this matter."

The leaked audio comes as Republican lawmakers call on the governor to include border security measures in her legislative agenda during a special session in July focused on public safety.

The governor, however, has indicated border security is the responsibility of the federal government.

"If Republicans in the Legislature are serious about border security they need to call their GOP counterparts in Congress and ask them to send the carefully negotiated border security bill to President Biden's desk," Lujan Grisham, a former congresswoman, said in a statement sent by her office to The New Mexican earlier this week.

Asked Friday what, if any, border security measures the governor plans to include in her legislative agenda, McGinnis Porter reiterated Lujan Grisham's stance border enforcement is a federal responsibility and she is ready to work with Congress and the Biden administration to secure the border in accordance with federal law.

"As she has said before, Gov. Lujan Grisham believes we can do more to secure the border, including the deployment of drones and other technology. That's why she was disappointed that House Republicans kowtowed to former President Trump's demands and killed the carefully negotiated bipartisan border security bill in Congress," McGinnis Porter said.

In the recording, the governor acknowledged the border is porous.

The more than two-minute recording began with Lujan Grisham saying New Mexico doesn't have a single Border Patrol agent in Sunland Park, a city located at the very tip of the south-central region of the state on the border with Texas and Mexico.

"For the love of God, put them at the border at Sunland Park, where I don't have a single Border Patrol agent, not one, and people pour over," she said.

The governor also suggested in the recording reporters from various news outlets are chasing the story.

"Politico wants to write an article," Lujan Grisham said in the recording.

"Every single major press group in the state is asking me repeatedly, basically accusing me of being feckless," she said. "I mean, they're all going to write about it."

In what appears to be in response to a question posed by the other person, the governor said, "They're saying that they're worried about fentanyl so they're taking all of our cannabis, and ... they're detaining people. Never done that. We just use discretion. Look the other way."

Lewinger said he gives the governor credit for continuing to push the issue with federal officials.

The Associated Press recently reported the seizures prompted a discussion between the governor and Mayorkas earlier this month in which she voiced concerns the scrutiny of cannabis companies appears to be greater in New Mexico than in states with regulated markets that aren't along the U.S. border with Mexico.

"I think it's humanizing when somebody as prominent as the governor, like you hear her have a real conversation," Lewinger said, referring to the audio recording.

He called adult-use recreational marijuana one of Lujan Grisham's hallmarks as governor.

"I think the content of the conversation was maybe less formal than somebody would think [of] the head of the state." he said. "But it seems clear that she is trying to resolve this issue."

Follow Daniel J. Chacón on Twitter @danieljchacon.