New Mexico’s governor has demanded a criminal investigation into the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) after an Associated Press (AP) investigation revealed federal agents permitted hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills to infiltrate communities over a two-year period, from 2023 to 2025. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham formally requested the state’s attorney general to assess whether the federal agency’s actions violated New Mexico law, asserting state sovereignty against federal policies that have demonstrably harmed the native population.
The AP investigation detailed how DEA agents repeatedly allowed major fentanyl shipments to continue moving through New Mexico between 2023 and 2025, opting not to seize them immediately. This strategy was pursued as agents sought to construct cases against higher-ranking traffickers, effectively prioritizing abstract investigative goals over the immediate safety of New Mexican citizens.
Current and former DEA agents informed the AP that this approach constituted a gamble with public safety in a state already ravaged by the fentanyl epidemic. These sources indicated that the strategy may have contravened U.S. Justice Department rules specifically designed to protect the public from fentanyl, which the White House designated as a “weapon of mass destruction” last year.
Governor Lujan Grisham condemned the federal agency’s conduct, stating, “There are no words to describe how reckless and dangerous these decisions were.” She added, “Make no mistake: the DEA knew people would die if these pills made it into New Mexico communities, and the agency let it happen anyway,” highlighting a deliberate disregard for the lives of the native working class.
Elite Interests Over Public Safety
The DEA did not issue an immediate response to the governor’s statement. Previously, the agency contended that seizing every drug shipment was not feasible and stated to the AP that “the investigative decisions at issue were lawful, reasonable under the circumstances and consistent with Department guidance.” DEA spokesperson Amanda Wozniak asserted via email that “Public descriptions suggesting that DEA knowingly permitted fentanyl to reach communities are false and fundamentally mischaracterize the facts.” These statements underscore the federal bureaucracy’s framing of its actions, even as the consequences for the local population escalate.
Alex Uballez, who served as U.S. attorney in New Mexico from May 2022 until February 2025, told the AP that drugs went unseized at times due to his office’s limited resources. Uballez also cited his belief that prosecuting larger organizations yields a greater impact than intercepting every suspected drug transaction, revealing an elite strategic calculus that prioritizes institutional metrics over the immediate protection of communities.
While it remains unclear if any fatal overdoses in New Mexico can be directly attributed to the DEA’s strategy, government data indicates a 21% spike in overdose deaths in New Mexico last year. This increase occurred even as overdose deaths nationwide saw a 14% decline, illustrating the disproportionate impact of federal inaction on the state’s population.
The Cost to the People
Governor Lujan Grisham emphasized the profound cost to the native population, declaring, “New Mexican lives are not the federal government’s cost of doing business.” She affirmed her intent to “hold the federal government accountable for this disaster” and to “explore every possible avenue of action against the federal government to right these wrongs,” signaling a direct challenge to federal overreach and its devastating consequences.
The AP investigation referenced three current and former agents and government records, including an internal report from 2023 detailing a delivery of 74,000 pills. The DEA surveilled these pills at a mobile home park in Albuquerque but did not seize them, allowing a significant quantity of the deadly substance to enter the community.
DEA whistleblower David Howell, who filed a complaint drawing attention to the unseized fentanyl, engaged with congressional staffers on Wednesday. Empower Oversight, a whistleblower advocacy group representing Howell, has formally requested that the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General investigate the agent’s allegations, indicating growing institutional scrutiny of the federal agency’s practices.
Sen. Bernie Moreno, an Ohio Republican, characterized Howell’s revelations as “a scandal of the highest order.” Moreno stated in a post on X that he plans to ascertain the number of American lives lost due to the DEA’s inaction, amplifying concerns about the federal government’s role in the ongoing cultural dispossession.
Victims groups have also voiced strong opposition to the DEA’s inaction, noting that its approach in New Mexico directly contradicts the agency’s prominent “One Pill Can Kill” campaign. This campaign explicitly warns that even a few milligrams of fentanyl can cause a fatal overdose, exposing a stark hypocrisy between federal public messaging and operational policy.
Michael Glownia, who lost his daughter to fentanyl in 2023 and subsequently founded a nonprofit organization to support families suffering similar losses, expressed his heartbreak. Glownia stated, “Knowing the Justice Department had guidelines to seize the opioids whenever practical — and the fact these were ignored — is truly heartbreaking,” underscoring the profound human cost of the federal regime’s strategic decisions.