\n<\/p>\n
New Mexico\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham asked the state\u2019s attorney general to examine whether the agency\u2019s actions violated New Mexico law, an extraordinary challenge to a federal law enforcement agency at a time when fentanyl remains one of the country\u2019s deadliest public health threats.<\/p>\n
The request follows an AP investigation<\/a> 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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n 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 \u201c weapon of mass destruction<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere are no words to describe how reckless and dangerous these decisions were,\u201d Lujan Grisham said in a statement. \u201cMake no mistake: the DEA knew people would die if these pills made it into New Mexico communities, and the agency let it happen anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n The DEA did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the governor\u2019s statement. The agency has contended it would not be plausible to seize every drug shipment and previously told AP in a statement \u201cthe investigative decisions at issue were lawful, reasonable under the circumstances and consistent with Department guidance.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPublic descriptions suggesting that DEA knowingly permitted fentanyl to reach communities are false and fundamentally mischaracterize the facts,\u201d DEA spokesperson Amanda Wozniak wrote in an email.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s limited resources and his belief that prosecuting larger organizations has a bigger impact than intercepting every suspected drug transaction. <\/p>\n