On Wednesday, the governor of New Mexico called for a criminal probe into the Drug Enforcement Administration following an investigation by the Associated Press which alleged that federal agents allowed hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills to enter communities over a two-year period while attempting to build larger drug-trafficking cases.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham requested that the state attorney general review whether the conduct of the Drug Enforcement Administration may have violated laws in New Mexico — a rare move targeting a federal agency as fentanyl continues to rank among the nation’s most severe public health dangers.
According to an investigation by the Associated Press, federal agents with the Drug Enforcement Administration allegedly allowed large fentanyl consignments to move through New Mexico between 2023 and 2025 rather than intercept them immediately, as part of efforts to pursue higher-level drug traffickers.
The governor’s decision to seek a criminal review has now shifted attention from enforcement tactics to whether the agency’s operations may have violated the law.
Several current and former officials from the Drug Enforcement Administration told the Associated Press that the tactic effectively risked community safety in New Mexico, a state deeply affected by the fentanyl crisis. They further suggested that the operations may have gone against rules set by the United States Department of Justice to minimise public exposure to fentanyl, a substance the White House designated last year as a “weapon of mass destruction.”
“There are no words to describe how reckless and dangerous these decisions were,” Lujan Grisham said in a statement. “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.”
