Overview
- New Mexico officials say they will seek criminal and civil remedies after an AP investigation found DEA agents monitored but did not seize large fentanyl shipments between 2023 and 2025 to pursue broader prosecutions.
- Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham announced she could seek billions in damages and reimbursement, a move that escalates state pressure on federal law enforcement and seeks to cover public-health and public-safety costs.
- The state attorney general has opened a criminal probe to examine whether federal officials broke state law, and the DEA has asked the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General to review the agency’s operational choices.
- Whistleblower agent David Howell and other current and former DEA personnel provided records and accounts, including documentation of a March 2025 shipment of about 1.8 million pills that agents learned about but did not intercept.
- State health data show a 21% rise in fentanyl overdoses in New Mexico from 2024 to 2025, and advocates are urging a return to 2024 DOJ guidance that favored seizing fentanyl when practicable to reduce community risk.