Michelle Lujan Grisham Asks Raúl Torrez to Investigate DEA Fentanyl Shipments in New Mexico

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham asked state Attorney General Raúl Torrez to investigate whether federal agents violated New Mexico law while handling fentanyl shipments during drug investigations in New Mexico.

“New Mexico governor calls for criminal probe of DEA allowing fentanyl shipments to hit streets New Mexico’s governor on Wednesday called for a criminal investigation into the Drug Enforcement Administration after an Associated Press investigation found federal agents allowed hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills to reach the streets over a two-year period while pursuing larger drug-trafficking cases”

Associated Press

The request followed an Associated Press investigation finding DEA agents allowed hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills to reach New Mexico between 2023 and 2025 while pursuing larger drug-trafficking cases.

Associated Press

Lujan Grisham said, “I am appalled by reporting this week by the Associated Press and Albuquerque Journal that revealed federal authorities made a deliberate decision to let hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills flood into New Mexico communities,” and she added that “New Mexican lives are not the federal government’s cost of doing business.”

The Tri-City Record reported that the governor’s call for a criminal review turns a debate over drug enforcement tactics into whether federal agents “crossed legal lines while pursuing larger trafficking organizations.”

The DEA denied that it permitted suspected fentanyl sales to be completed in New Mexico wiretap investigations, and a DEA spokesperson, Amanda Wozniak, wrote in an email that “Public descriptions suggesting that DEA knowingly permitted fentanyl to reach communities are false and fundamentally mischaracterize the facts.”

AP reported that the strategy involved agents tracking suspected fentanyl deliveries while federal prosecutors worked to build cases against larger trafficking organizations, and the Tri-City Record said current and former DEA agents told AP the approach amounted to a gamble with public safety.

Organ Mountain News

Alex Uballez, who served as U.S. attorney in New Mexico from May 2022 until February 2025, told AP that drugs went unseized at times due to limited resources and his belief that prosecuting larger organizations had a bigger impact than intercepting every suspected drug transaction.

The Tri-City Record also reported that DEA whistleblower David Howell spoke Wednesday with congressional staffers, and it quoted Michael Glownia saying, “Knowing the Justice Department had guidelines to seize the opioids whenever practical — and the fact these were ignored — is truly heartbreaking.”

Lujan Grisham tied the AP findings to New Mexico’s overdose crisis, saying the state has led the nation in the increase in overdose deaths for the second straight year while overdose deaths have declined nationally.

“New Mexico’s governor has put forth a strong call for a criminal inquiry into the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), prompted by findings from an Associated Press investigation”

SSBCrack

The Organ Mountain News reported that the Albuquerque Journal said drug overdose deaths fell 14.4% nationally from January 2025 to January 2026 while increasing nearly 23% in New Mexico, and it also said AP reported New Mexico recorded a 21% increase in overdose deaths while deaths fell nationally.

The governor’s office said she wrote to FBI Director Christopher Wray in June 2022 seeking at least 50 additional agents in New Mexico, and it said she deployed the National Guard to Albuquerque and Española after declaring fentanyl and other drugs a public health emergency.

In the Tri-City Record, Lujan Grisham wrote, “I plan to hold the federal government accountable for this disaster and will explore every possible avenue of action against the federal government to right these wrongs,” while Sen. Bernie Moreno called Howell’s revelations “a scandal of the highest order” and said he planned to find out how many lives were lost due to the DEA’s inaction.