House Opens Probe Into DEA Tactic That Let Fentanyl Reach U.S. Streets

Overview

• House Oversight Chairman James Comer sent a records request to Attorney General Todd Blanche on Monday as part of a formal investigation into DEA operations that allegedly monitored large fentanyl shipments without seizing them.
• An Associated Press investigation and DEA whistleblowers say agents in New Mexico repeatedly let major fentanyl consignments move through criminal networks while federal prosecutors built long-term wiretap and conspiracy cases, a practice often called allowing drugs to “walk.”
• The Justice Department rewrote risk-mitigation guidance in 2024 to give agents more discretion about intercepting shipments, replacing earlier protocols that urged seizing fentanyl as soon as practicable.
• The DEA has defended long-term, complex investigations and welcomed the inspector general’s nationwide review, even as New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez has sued the DOJ seeking related records.
• The probe could produce document disclosures, congressional hearings and policy changes that would reshape how federal agents balance immediate public-safety interdictions with preserving broader criminal investigations.