Politics
House Republicans launch investigation into DEA tactic of letting fentanyl reach streets
The House Oversight Committee is seeking records regarding a policing strategy that monitored rather than seized major drug shipments to build larger cases.
The short version
- House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer launched an investigation into a DEA tactic of allowing major fentanyl shipments to reach the streets during investigations.
- The probe follows an AP investigation, a lawsuit by the New Mexico attorney general, and whistleblower reports that agents were ordered not to seize hundreds of thousands of pills.
- The Justice Department's internal watchdog has initiated a nationwide review of government policies and wiretap investigations to see how widely the tactic has been used.
Key facts
- House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer sent a letter to Attorney General Todd Blanche requesting records from the Biden administration regarding the DEA's strategy of monitoring instead of seizing major fentanyl shipments.[Associated Press]
- An AP investigation found that DEA agents in New Mexico repeatedly monitored major fentanyl shipments between 2023 and 2025 but allowed them to be distributed to build larger criminal cases.[Associated Press]
- New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez sued the Justice Department to force the release of records related to this DEA tactic.[Associated Press]
- The Justice Department's internal protocols were rewritten in 2024 to grant law enforcement more discretion in choosing whether to prevent fentanyl trafficking to preserve investigations, replacing a 2017 policy that instructed agents to seize or prevent fentanyl distribution 'as soon as practicable.'[Associated Press]
- AP reporting indicated that the tactic of allowing drugs to 'walk' continued into Donald Trump's second administration, preceding a major DEA bust in May 2025.[Associated Press]
- DEA Administrator Terry Cole welcomed the inspector general's review, stating that their long-term and complex investigations are guided by the law.[Associated Press]
What remains uncertain
- It is not yet determined how extensively the tactic of allowing fentanyl to 'walk' has been used across the United States beyond the cases identified in New Mexico.[Associated Press]