New Mexico鈥檚 governor on Wednesday called for a criminal investigation into the Drug Enforcement Administration after an Associated Press investigation found federal agents allowed hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills to reach the streets over a two-year period while pursuing larger drug-trafficking cases.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham asked the state鈥檚 attorney general to examine whether the agency鈥檚 actions violated New Mexico law, an extraordinary challenge to a federal law enforcement agency at a time when fentanyl remains one of the country鈥檚 deadliest public health threats.
The request follows an that found DEA agents repeatedly allowed major fentanyl shipments to continue moving through New Mexico between 2023 and 2025 rather than seize them immediately, as agents sought to build cases against higher-ranking traffickers. The governor鈥檚 call for a criminal review turns a debate over drug enforcement tactics into a question of whether federal agents themselves crossed legal lines while pursuing larger trafficking organizations.
Current and former DEA agents told AP the strategy amounted to a gamble with public safety in a state ravaged by the fentanyl epidemic and may have violated U.S. Justice Department rules intended to safeguard the public from a drug the White House last year designated as a 鈥� .鈥�
鈥淭here are no words to describe how reckless and dangerous these decisions were,鈥� Lujan Grisham said in a statement. 鈥淢ake no mistake: the DEA knew people would die if these pills made it into New Mexico communities, and the agency let it happen anyway.鈥�
The DEA did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the governor鈥檚 statement. The agency has contended it would not be plausible to seize every drug shipment and previously told AP in a statement 鈥渢he investigative decisions at issue were lawful, reasonable under the circumstances and consistent with Department guidance.鈥�
鈥淧ublic descriptions suggesting that DEA knowingly permitted fentanyl to reach communities are false and fundamentally mischaracterize the facts,鈥� DEA spokesperson Amanda Wozniak wrote in an email.
Alex Uballez, who served as U.S. attorney in New Mexico from May 2022 until February 2025, told AP that drugs went unseized at times due to his office鈥檚 limited resources and his belief that prosecuting larger organizations has a bigger impact than intercepting every suspected drug transaction.
It is not clear whether any fatal overdoses in the state can be directly attributed to the DEA strategy. While , government data show New Mexico tallied a 21% spike.
鈥淣ew Mexican lives are not the federal government鈥檚 cost of doing business,鈥� the governor wrote in her statement. 鈥淚 plan to hold the federal government accountable for this disaster and will explore every possible avenue of action against the federal government to right these wrongs.鈥�
The AP investigation cited three current and former agents and government records, including an internal report of a 2023 delivery of 74,000 pills the DEA surveilled 鈥� but did not seize 鈥� at a mobile home park in Albuquerque.
DEA whistleblower David Howell, who filed a complaint drawing attention to the unseized fentanyl, spoke Wednesday with congressional staffers. Empower Oversight, a whistleblower advocacy group representing Howell, has asked the Senate Judiciary Committee and Justice Department鈥檚 Office of Inspector General to investigate the agent’s allegations.
Sen. Bernie Moreno, a Ohio Republican, called Howell’s revelations 鈥渁 scandal of the highest order鈥� and said in a post on X he plans to find out how many American lives were lost due to the DEA’s inaction.
Meanwhile, victims groups also spoke out about DEA’s inaction, saying its approach in New Mexico contradicts the agency’s prominent 鈥淥ne Pill Can Kill鈥� campaign that warns as little as a few milligrams of fentanyl can cause a fatal overdose.
鈥淜nowing the Justice Department had guidelines to seize the opioids whenever practical 鈥� and the fact these were ignored 鈥� is truly heartbreaking,鈥� said Michael Glownia, who lost his daughter to fentanyl in 2023 and founded a nonprofit organization to support families suffering similar losses.
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Mustian reported from Miami.
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