By Kevin Hendricks
New Mexico’s attorney general says he’ll take the U.S. Department of Justice to federal court if it doesn’t hand over records tied to his fentanyl investigation by Aug. 17 — records DOJ says his office never had a legal right to request in the first place.
The renewed demand
Attorney General Raúl Torrez sent a letter Monday rejecting DOJ’s July 29 denial of his records request, arguing federal attorneys misquoted their own regulations and cited rules that only apply when the U.S. government is a party to a case — which it isn’t here. “The federal government cannot hide behind procedural excuses when New Mexicans deserve answers,” Torrez said in a statement announcing the letter.
DOJ’s position
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Ellison’s July 29 letter said Torrez’s original request failed to identify a specific “federal or state court action” and didn’t explain the relevance of the records sought. Ellison wrote that the DOJ “remains willing to consider any future requests” submitted through the proper process. Torrez’s response counters that no such court action is required under the cited regulations, and lays out — for the first time publicly — exactly what his office wants: DEA seizure protocols dating to 2017, investigative records on fentanyl operations from 2022-2025, and whistleblower complaint files, including one from a DEA agent identified in the letter as “Agent Howell.”
What’s driving the investigation
The dispute traces back to a whistleblower complaint alleging DEA agents tracked roughly 1.8 million fentanyl pills moving through New Mexico without seizing them, hoping to catch bigger suppliers — including one 74,000-pill delivery to an Albuquerque mobile home park. Torrez’s letter cites a legislative finance brief showing New Mexico’s fentanyl deaths rose 21.7% from 2024 to 2025 — the largest increase in the nation.
Torrez’s letter warns that if the DOJ doesn’t produce priority records or a substantive response by Aug. 17, his office will ask the U.S. District Court for New Mexico to review the denial — the same venue DOJ’s own letter identified as the proper forum for such disputes.