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Staggering amounts of fentanyl hit streets as DEA watched and took no action, records show
🇺🇸 United States /Crime & Justice

Staggering amounts of fentanyl hit streets as DEA watched and took no action, records show

From PBS NewsHour · () English

Summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

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  • The DEA allegedly allowed hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills onto New Mexico streets between 2023 and 2025, according to agents and records.
  • Agents monitored shipments but did not seize them, a tactic that potentially endangered communities and may violate Justice Department guidelines.
  • This strategy was employed as federal prosecutors sought larger cases against traffickers, with one agent stating, "We poisoned our community to make cases."

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) permitted hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills to flood the streets of New Mexico between 2023 and 2025, even as the nation grappled with its deadliest drug epidemic, according to former and current DEA agents and government records obtained by The Associated Press.

DEA agents reportedly monitored shipments of fentanyl pills but refrained from seizing them. This tactic, employed while federal prosecutors aimed to build larger criminal cases against traffickers of the synthetic opioid, designated a "weapon of mass destruction" by the White House, is criticized by agents and experts. They argue this approach gambled with public safety, potentially imperiling communities in and around Albuquerque and possibly violating U.S. Justice Department rules designed to protect the public.

We poisoned our community to make cases. Through our own willful blindness, we get to say, 'We don't really know what happened to the drugs.' But we 100% got people killed.

— DEA Special Agent David HowellHowell described the consequences of the DEA's strategy of allowing fentanyl pills to circulate.

"We poisoned our community to make cases," DEA Special Agent David Howell told AP. "Through our own willful blindness, we get to say, 'We don't really know what happened to the drugs.' But we 100% got people killed." The DEA has historically argued that seizing every drug shipment is impractical. However, the strategy of allowing vast quantities of counterfeit painkillers onto the streets shocked veteran agents. Ridding streets of illicit fentanyl, primarily manufactured in Mexican labs, has been the DEA's top priority amid surging overdose deaths.

New Mexico, particularly Albuquerque, remains at the epicenter of the fentanyl crisis. While national overdose deaths decreased by 14% last year, New Mexico saw a stark 21% increase. Alex Uballez, former U.S. attorney in New Mexico, stated that authorities sometimes allowed drug shipments to go unseized as part of a broader intelligence-gathering effort to prosecute major traffickers. He cited limited resources and a belief that targeting larger organizations yields greater impact than intercepting every suspected drug transaction. Last year, the DEA recorded its largest fentanyl bust in Albuquerque history, underscoring the scale of the problem.

The bigger fish are worth catching, and that will save m

— Alex UballezUballez explained the rationale behind prioritizing larger drug trafficking organizations over individual seizures.
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Originally published by PBS NewsHour. Summarized and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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