New Mexico U.S. Sen. Luján shares documents related to feds’ fentanyl operations in state

U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) on Wednesday shared multiple documents regarding how the federal Drug Enforcement Administration and higher-ups handled a whistleblower’s recent allegations regarding un-seized fentanyl shipments in Albuquerque. 

The U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General on Aug. 17 announced it was investigating whistleblower complaints alleging that DEA agents monitoring fentanyl shipments in 2024 in New Mexico would routinely stop short of seizing them in hopes of catching bigger traffickers down the line.

The whistleblower’s existence and allegations, first revealed in articles by the Associated Press and Albuquerque Journal, prompted widespread criticism from New Mexico elected officials at the local, state and federal levels over the possibility that the DEA sanctioned the release of hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills into communities that already have high opioid addiction and overdose rates. 

All five of New Mexico’s U.S. senators and representatives asked the DOJ in a letter earlier this month to extend and expand its probe further back than 2024. DEA whistleblower complaints make reference to these tactics, known as “fentanyl walking,” as far back as 2022, they wrote. 

And in late August, New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez sued federal law enforcement agencies over documents related to their fentanyl investigations in the state. That lawsuit against the DEA and DOJ remains pending. 

Luján’s office announced Wednesday that the senator had received a briefing from the DEA and DOJ and said he “continues to press the federal government for more information to be released to the public.”

The senator shared links to four documents with redactions that related to the whistleblower allegations. They show how the DOJ’s Office of Special Counsel ultimately determined no misconduct occurred nearly two years after the whistleblower filed his complaint. 

The documents include a determination by the U.S. Office of Special Counsel in December 2023 that the whistleblower’s allegations were serious enough to justify a separate USDOJ investigation, followed by the USDOJ’s determination in September 2024 that no misconduct had occurred. 

The documents Luján shared also show the whistleblower shortly afterward disputed the DOJ’s determination and, finally, the Office of Special Counsel agreeing in September 2025 its determination that the DEA committed no misconduct.

“Prosecutors and investigators need to have the flexibility to choose the operational approaches they have concluded are the most effective in combatting drug trafficking throughout the country,” Special Counsel Charlis Baldis wrote on Sept. 4, 2025. “I have concluded that the agency’s approach to these matters is correct.”

While news reports have previously referenced those documents, a Luján spokesperson said he hopes sharing them in full helps New Mexicans “read for themselves” regarding the DEA’s fentanyl investigations in the state. 

“The Senator wanted to bring awareness to these documents as he has been receiving briefings by DEA and DOJ,” Luján spokesperson Adán Serna told Source NM in an email Wednesday.