New Mexico DOJ demands federal records on DEA fentanyl operations
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez’s office is demanding federal records tied to DEA fentanyl investigations in New Mexico from 2022 to 2025.
Attorney General Raúl Torrez’s office is seeking records tied to allegations that DEA agents allowed large quantities of fentanyl to reach New Mexico communities instead of seizing the drugs.
Organ Mountain News report
LAS CRUCES - The New Mexico Department of Justice has formally demanded federal records tied to allegations that Drug Enforcement Administration agents allowed large quantities of fentanyl to enter New Mexico communities instead of seizing the drugs during investigations.
Attorney General Raúl Torrez’s office sent a Touhy demand to the U.S. Department of Justice seeking records related to the DEA’s fentanyl operations and seizure decisions in New Mexico from 2022 to 2025.
A Touhy demand is a formal request for records or testimony from a federal agency. Such requests are governed by federal rules that control when agency employees may provide documents or information for outside legal proceedings or investigations.
The demand follows Torrez’s announcement that the New Mexico Department of Justice had opened an investigation into allegations that federal agents allowed fentanyl to move through New Mexico communities while pursuing larger trafficking cases.
Organ Mountain News
“The people of New Mexico deserve a full accounting of the decisions that allowed deadly fentanyl to reach our communities,” Torrez said. “This records request is an important step in our investigation to determine what occurred, whether federal policies were followed, and whether anyone should be held accountable.”
The letter, dated July 1, was sent to Ryan Ellison, first assistant U.S. attorney for the District of New Mexico. It says the state agency is investigating “the decisions and conduct” of the DEA after whistleblower statements and media reporting alleged that the agency “deliberately chose not to seize millions of fentanyl pills in New Mexico.”
According to the letter, the Associated Press and the Albuquerque Journal reported June 22 that DEA agents in New Mexico monitored multiple large fentanyl shipments between 2023 and 2025 but did not intervene or seize the drugs, apparently as part of efforts to build larger trafficking prosecutions.
The letter cites one reported transaction in which agents observed and recorded the delivery of 74,000 fentanyl pills to an Albuquerque mobile home park in June 2023 without intervening. It also cites a former DEA supervisor who told the AP that the agency allowed “millions” of pills to go unseized during a separate multistate investigation.
DEA Special Agent David Howell, a 19-year agency veteran, filed a whistleblower complaint in 2023 and later told the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Professional Responsibility that agents had observed, without seizing, separate deliveries of 150,000 and 50,000 fentanyl pills, according to the letter.
Joshua Bowling
The New Mexico Department of Justice said it is seeking policies, protocols, investigative reports, surveillance logs, operational summaries, wiretap monitoring records, case agent notes and supervisory approval records related to fentanyl investigations in New Mexico.
The demand also seeks communications between DEA agents and federal prosecutors about decisions to seize or not seize fentanyl, whistleblower complaints and related personnel records, court filings referencing unseized fentanyl and records tied to any changes in federal fentanyl seizure protocols.
The letter says the AP reported the existence of U.S. Department of Justice protocols requiring agents to seize or prevent the distribution of fentanyl pills “as soon as practicable.” NMDOJ said it needs to know when those protocols were adopted, how long they were in effect and whether federal officials later rewrote them to give agents more discretion.
The state agency also requested records supporting or refuting the DEA’s public statement that its fentanyl seizure practices in New Mexico were “lawful, reasonable under the circumstances and consistent with Department guidance.”
“Considering the lethality of fentanyl and the high overdose rate in New Mexico, it is vital for NMDOJ to be provided with a full record to test that representation,” the letter says.
The letter says New Mexico recorded a 21% increase in overdose deaths during the relevant period, while national overdose deaths fell 14%.
Damien Willis
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham formally requested June 24 that the New Mexico Department of Justice investigate the matter and determine whether to seek criminal prosecution or civil remedies. The letter says the attorney general has a statutory duty to prosecute civil or criminal matters involving the state when requested to do so by the governor.
Torrez’s office said the investigation is time-sensitive because of statutes of limitations, the risk that evidence or information could become stale and the public’s right to know the truth surrounding the allegations.
NMDOJ requested that the U.S. Department of Justice produce the records or provide a production schedule by July 31.
“The people of New Mexico deserve a full accounting of federal actions impacting their communities,” Torrez wrote. “It is my hope that the USDOJ agrees and will produce all documents that can be legally produced.”
A Touhy demand is a formal request for records or testimony from a federal agency, typically governed by agency rules for how employees may provide information in legal or investigative matters.
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