DEA tactic that let fentanyl flood the streets is being investigated by
House Republicans
[September 01, 2026]
By JOSHUA GOODMAN and JIM MUSTIAN
MIAMI (AP) — A controversial policing tactic that permitted staggering
amounts of deadly fentanyl to reach the streets as federal authorities
sought to build bigger 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 Monday to Attorney General Todd Blanche requesting records
related to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's controversial
strategy of monitoring — yet not seizing — major fentanyl shipments.
The request echoes concerns raised by officials in New Mexico, the
epicenter of the fentanyl crisis, where DEA whistleblowers recently
reported being ordered to stand down rather than seize hundreds of
thousands of fentanyl pills in possible violation of Justice Department
rules intended to safeguard communities. Last week, the state’s attorney
general, Raúl Torrez, sued the Justice Department seeking to force it to
turn over some of the same records being 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 wrote 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 come two months after an AP
investigation found DEA agents repeatedly monitored major fentanyl
shipments in New Mexico between 2023 and 2025 that were allowed to hit
the streets as federal authorities built out criminal cases.
The fentanyl went unseized amid the deadliest drug epidemic in U.S.
history and even as DEA led a public awareness campaign — “One Pill Can
Kill” — emphasizing that even a few milligrams of the substance can be
lethal. Last year, the White House designated the synthetic opioid a
“weapon of mass destruction.”
Comer requested records covering only the Biden administration, citing
what he described as its “relaxation of fentanyl risk mitigation
protocols” developed during President Donald Trump's first term. The
protocols, Comer said, should have prevented the fentanyl from hitting
the streets in such large numbers.
[to top of second column]
|
Lettering marks Drug Enforcement Administration agent's uniforms in
Florida, June 13, 2016. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel via AP,
File/Orlando Sentinel via AP, File)
The earlier policy, adopted in 2017, called on agents to “seize or
otherwise prevent the distribution” of fentanyl “as soon as
practicable.” The department rewrote those rules in 2024 to afford
law enforcement far more discretion in whether to take action to
prevent fentanyl trafficking, citing “the benefits to be achieved
through preserving the investigation.”
AP reporting found the investigative strategy — known as allowing
drugs to “walk” — continued into Trump's second administration
during the run-up to the largest fentanyl bust in DEA history, a
takedown announced in May 2025 by then-Attorney General Pam Bondi.
As part of that investigation, authorities seized some 3 million
fentanyl pills. But even larger quantities went unseized as agents
in Albuquerque stood by and watched as drug couriers entered hotels
with backpacks believed to be carrying as many as 100,000 fentanyl
pills.
The entire network could have been dismantled six months earlier,
according to a former DEA supervisor who worked on the case and is
now among three whistleblowers sounding the alarm about the
longstanding practice.
The Justice Department's internal watchdog this month announced a
nationwide review of government policies and wiretap investigations
to determine whether federal authorities have used 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
said 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.”
___
Mustian reported from New York.
All contents © copyright 2026 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
