The investigation began after whistleblowers alleged that federal agents and prosecutors engaged in a practice known as “fentanyl walking,” allowing fentanyl shipments to proceed as part of investigations aimed at identifying higher-level drug traffickers.
Source: N.M. Department of Justice
Albuquerque, NM — New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez today filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico against the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche, seeking records necessary for the New Mexico Department of Justice’s (NMDOJ) investigation into allegations that DEA agents knowingly allowed large quantities of fentanyl to be distributed in New Mexico.
The investigation began after whistleblowers alleged that federal agents and prosecutors engaged in a practice known as “fentanyl walking,” allowing fentanyl shipments to proceed as part of investigations aimed at identifying higher-level drug traffickers. The allegations include claims that the practice occurred in New Mexico between 2022 and 2025 and may have violated the federal government’s own fentanyl protocols.
The NMDOJ formally requested records from the U.S. Department of Justice in July, including internal policies, investigative files, communications, records related to whistleblower disclosures, and information concerning the public-health consequences of the alleged practices. The federal government denied the request and, after the NMDOJ responded to the stated objections and provided additional information, failed to produce the requested records or provide any further response.
“Fentanyl is devasting families across New Mexico, and we deserve to know the truth about the DEA’s practice of allowing that poison to flow into our communities,” said Attorney General Raúl Torrez. “Rather than come clean with the public, the United States Department of Justice is once again stonewalling our efforts to get to the bottom of this unconscionable practice, to determine who is responsible for endangering our families and to hold those responsible to account.”
The complaint alleges that during the period under investigation, New Mexico experienced a 21-percent increase in overdose deaths while overdose deaths nationally declined by 14 percent.
The lawsuit argues that the federal government’s refusal to provide the records is unlawful under the Administrative Procedure Act and interferes with New Mexico’s sovereign authority to investigate potential violations of state law.
The NMDOJ is asking the federal court to order the U.S. Department of Justice to produce the requested records or, at minimum, reconsider its denial in accordance with federal regulations governing requests for records by state law enforcement agencies.
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