Rep. Stansbury leads Congressional Delegation in Demanding Accountability and Congressional Investigation into Fentanyl Flooding New Mexico’s Streets
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Representatives Melanie Stansbury (NM-01), Gabe Vasquez (NM-02), Teresa Leger Fernández (NM-03) sent a letter to House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) and Ranking Member Robert Garcia (D-CA), and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD), to demand the committees begin public hearings and investigations into the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. This follows whistleblower reports that federal agents may have allowed hundreds of thousands of deadly fentanyl pills to reach the streets of New Mexico’s communities over the last several years. Additionally, the delegation demanded an inquiry into the policies and practices that led to deadly fentanyl being allowed to be distributed and sold across New Mexico, and to examine necessary policy and legislative changes to address these issues.
The practice, known as “walking,” is an investigative tactic where law enforcement agencies, like the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), deliberately allow illicit drugs to pass through supply chains and reach the streets. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, even a small amount of fentanyl can provide a potentially lethal dose. Fentanyl is incredibly potent—about 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine—a deadly quantity is roughly equivalent in size to a few grains of salt.
New Mexico has now led the nation for two consecutive years in drug overdose deaths, and data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show the state’s overdose deaths rose nearly 23 percent over the past year while the national rate fell. Nonfatal suspected fentanyl overdoses treated in New Mexico emergency departments have reached their highest level since January 2023. These allegations also follow reports that DEA agents are being reassigned from drug trafficking cases to support the Administration’s mass deportation agenda.
The call for public hearings and investigations follows reporting from the Albuquerque Journal that the Drug Enforcement Administration may have allowed fentanyl to leak into Albuquerque and New Mexico streets. Additionally, Rep. Stansbury and the New Mexico delegation pressed DEA Administrator Cole for an immediate briefing on DEA policies and actions in New Mexico its actions with respect to the fentanyl crisis.
You can read the full letter here or below:
Dear Chairman Comer, Chairman Jordan, Ranking Member Garcia, and Ranking Member Raskin,
We are writing to urgently request the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the Judiciary Committee conduct oversight over the federal Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA's) fentanyl enforcement policies and practices, and recent reports that federal agents may have allowed hundreds of thousands of deadly fentanyl pills to reach the streets of New Mexico’s communities over the last several years.
The New Mexico delegation urgently requests the Committees hold public oversight hearings with officials who oversee these programs, conduct an inquiry into the policies and practices that led to deadly fentanyl being allowed to be sold and distributed, and discuss legislative changes to address these issues.
Recent reporting has revealed that the DEA allowed hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills to hit the streets of New Mexico, including accounts by multiple current and former agents, internal agency records, and a formal whistleblower complaint filed by a longtime DEA agent who raised alarms about the practice years before it became public.[1]
According to these accounts, DEA agents monitored fentanyl shipments and then allowed them to reach their destination, in the hopes of building larger cases against major traffickers.[2] While agents monitored shipments, deadly fentanyl pills reportedly remained unintercepted as officials sought to investigate and prosecute other and larger cases. This occurred despite the immense risk to public safety in New Mexico's communities, given the extraordinary lethality of the substance. As the DEA’s own campaign warns: just One Pill Can Kill.[3]
For years we have fought to keep fentanyl off our streets as New Mexico has remained in the grip of a crisis unlike anything our state has previously faced. This makes these allegations—the known release of fentanyl into our communities—particularly concerning and prime for investigation from the Committees. For two consecutive years, New Mexico has led the nation in the rate of increase in drug overdose deaths.[4] Over the past year alone, overdose deaths in our state rose nearly 23 percent even as the national rate declined.[5] Hospitals are now seeing the highest number of nonfatal suspected fentanyl overdoses since January 2023. Behind these statistics, New Mexico families are burying children, neighbors, loved ones, and friends.
We are demanding immediate oversight and accountability. The Committees hold broad, government-wide jurisdiction to examine the operations of federal agencies, making them uniquely positioned to investigate a matter that touches DEA practices, Department of Justice policy, and whistleblower retaliation. The Committees also have a long history of examining similar institutional failures at the federal level, and it offers the appropriate venue to investigate it. If federal agents and prosecutors permitted known fentanyl shipments to proceed unintercepted, the public has a right to know why and what the consequences were for New Mexico’s communities.
It is critical that DEA leadership, experts, and representatives of impacted communities testify publicly about these practices, including the internal guidance and approval process governing decisions to let known fentanyl shipments proceed, the safeguards in place to prevent such decisions from resulting in overdose deaths, and how the agency is currently deploying its personnel and resources in New Mexico. To understand the impacts to our state, it is critical to determine the specific timeline and decisions by the DEA and U.S. Attorney's Office regarding all controlled deliveries in New Mexico over the past two years, including who authorized each action and any risk assessments associated with these deliveries. We also are demanding a full disclosure of these documents from the agencies themselves.
We thank you for your attention to this matter and respectfully request that the Committees hold a hearing on this matter at the earliest opportunity and join us in demanding accountability. We appreciate your attention to this request and look forward to collaborating on bipartisan oversight into this pressing issue.
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