Tipsheet

This Is How You Know the Biden-Era Fentanyl Scandal Is Bad

Cameron Arcand
Cameron Arcand  |  June 25, 2026 2:45 PM

Gov. Michelle Lujan-Grisham (D-NM) responded to Associated Press and Albuquerque Journal reports detailing that the Drug Enforcement Administration allowed just under two million fentanyl pills to "walk" into the United States in order to obtain “intelligence," from 2023 to 2025, primarily during the Biden-era. 

“Make no mistake: the DEA knew people would die if these pills made it into New Mexico communities, and the agency let it happen anyway,” Lujan-Grisham said in a statement, adding that "there are no words to describe how reckless and dangerous these decisions were."

“The result: hundreds of New Mexican parents burying their kids. Hundreds of New Mexican kids growing up without stable parents. All while the federal government stood by,” she continued. "If the justification for letting these pills flood our communities was that it would somehow make New Mexico safer down the road through bigger eventual busts, the results say otherwise. New Mexico now leads the nation in the increase in overdose deaths for the second straight year, despite deaths dropping nationwide."

The Democrat then said she is asking New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez to look into “whether any federal agents broke state law when they allowed lethal drugs to remain on our streets, and to prosecute anyone responsible — regardless of whether they are a federal agent or not.”

The AP report noted that DEA agent whistleblower David Howell said that “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,” he added. One particular scandal involved roughly 74,000 pills that were sent to a trailer park in the state, Townhall previously reported.

New Mexico House Republicans posted that “it happened because of years of bad decisions.”

“Soft on crime policies. Sanctuary policies. An open border under the Biden administration. And in Santa Fe, Democrats repeatedly blocking tougher penalties for fentanyl traffickers, stronger sentences for repeat offenders, and reforms to hold violent criminals accountable,” the Republicans continued. 

The report even gained attention outside of the Land of Enchantment.

“A scandal of the highest order. How many thousands of American lives were lost because the Biden DEA refused to act as deadly fentanyl poured over Biden’s open border?” Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) posted to X. 

“I intend to find out,” Moreno added. 

A DEA spokesperson said in a statement to NewsNation on June 22 that “public descriptions suggesting that DEA knowingly permitted fentanyl to reach communities are false and fundamentally mischaracterize the facts."

"The cases in question involved complex, court-authorized Title III investigations in which agents and prosecutors conducted real-time surveillance, intelligence gathering, and operational analysis targeting larger drug trafficking organizations. For operational decisions in investigations like this, DEA is mandated to coordinate investigative decisions with USAO leadership to ensure investigative steps are carefully coordinated to prevent harm to the public. Several independent reviews concluded that the investigative decisions at issue were lawful, reasonable under the circumstances, and consistent with Department guidance," the statement continued.

On Thursday, DEA Administrator Terrance Cole said in a statement that he is asking "that the U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General conduct an independent review of DEA’s actions in connection with an investigation that has become the subject of public allegations."

"If the review confirms that DEA personnel acted appropriately, it will provide an independent assessment that reinforces confidence in the professionalism of this agency and its workforce. If improvements are identified, DEA will implement them. Strong institutions are sustained – not diminished – by objective oversight and a willingness to continuously assess and improve," Cole added.