House Republicans Investigate DEA Tactic Related to Fentanyl Shipments

MIAMI (AP) — A policing tactic that allowed significant amounts of fentanyl to reach the streets while federal authorities aimed to build larger drug cases is now under investigation by Republicans on the House Oversight Committee. The committee’s chairman, Rep. James Comer, a Republican from Kentucky, sent a letter on Monday to Attorney General Todd Blanche requesting records related to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s strategy of monitoring but not seizing major fentanyl shipments. The request aligns with concerns raised by officials in New Mexico, the center of the fentanyl crisis, where DEA whistleblowers reported being instructed to refrain from seizing hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills, potentially violating Justice Department rules designed to protect communities. Last week, New Mexico’s attorney general, Raúl Torrez, filed a lawsuit against the Justice Department to compel it to release some of the same records sought by Republicans on Comer’s committee. "While DEA agents may not have the resources to intercept every single known shipment, a policy directing them not to intercept significant shipments is unconscionable and undoubtedly resulted in considerable harm and lives lost," Comer stated in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press. The DEA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The lawsuit and congressional inquiry follow an AP investigation that found DEA agents monitored major fentanyl shipments in New Mexico from 2023 to 2025, which were allowed to enter the streets as federal authorities built criminal cases. The fentanyl went unseized amid the deadliest drug epidemic in U.S. history, even as the DEA led a public awareness campaign titled “One Pill Can Kill,” highlighting the lethal potential of even a small amount of the substance. Last year, the White House designated the synthetic opioid a “weapon of mass destruction.” Comer requested records pertaining only to the Biden administration, citing what he described as its “relaxation of fentanyl risk mitigation protocols” established during President Donald Trump’s first term. Comer stated that these protocols should have prevented fentanyl from reaching the streets in such large quantities. The earlier policy, adopted in 2017, instructed agents to “seize or otherwise prevent the distribution” of fentanyl “as soon as practicable.” The department revised these rules in 2024 to grant law enforcement greater discretion regarding actions to prevent fentanyl trafficking, citing the advantages of preserving investigations. AP reporting indicated that the investigative strategy, known as allowing drugs to “walk,” persisted into Trump’s second administration leading up to the largest fentanyl bust in DEA history, announced in May 2025 by then-Attorney General Pam Bondi. During that investigation, authorities seized approximately 3 million fentanyl pills, but even larger quantities went unseized as agents in Albuquerque observed drug couriers entering hotels with backpacks believed to contain as many as 100,000 fentanyl pills. A former DEA supervisor involved in the case, now among three whistleblowers, stated that the entire network could have been dismantled six months earlier. The Justice Department’s internal watchdog recently announced a nationwide review of government policies and wiretap investigations to assess whether federal authorities have employed the same tactic elsewhere. "Our investigations are long term and they are complex and they are done under the guidance of the law," DEA Administrator Terry Cole stated in an interview this month with Fox News, welcoming the inspector general’s review. "We will continue to do that, but we need to stay 100% focused on the adversary."