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.
Torrez requested records from the U.S. DOJ in July following reporting that DEA agents working in New Mexico let large quantities of fentanyl pills continue onto the streets instead of intervening to seize them. Officials, including former U.S. Attorney Alex Uballez who oversaw federal investigations in New Mexico during this time, have broadly defended the practice known as “walking” as a legitimate law enforcement tactic needed to gain broader insight into, and potential bigger cases against, drug trafficking organizations. A DEA agent with knowledge of the practice says became a whistleblower.
The federal government denied Torrez’s request for policies and documents related to the New Mexico cases, prompting him to pursue a court order to produce them, a release from USDOJ says.
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.