近距离内射合集

Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller said Thursday that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration made an "immoral decision" by allowing tens of thousands of illicit fentanyl pills to enter a city and state already struggling with drug-related crime and addiction.

"This is a huge slap in the face to all of us as New Mexicans," Keller said during a news conference at the city's Gateway Center campus for people experiencing homelessness.

The mayor was referring to reports published Monday by the Journal and The Associated Press that revealed Albuquerque-based DEA agents chose not to seize large fentanyl shipments from 2023 through early 2025 in an effort to identify ringleaders and dismantle drug trafficking organizations.

"There is no scenario where a specific state like New Mexico has to sacrifice hundreds of people for the theory of going after a cartel," Keller said, referencing the DEA's "One Pill Can Kill" public awareness campaign. According to the DEA, 1 kilogram of fentanyl has the potential to kill 500,000 people.

Keller said Albuquerque regularly partners with the DEA on investigations targeting drug houses and traffickers.

"We need help with that desperately," he said. "But now we're finding out one of the reasons why we need help is because they made the problem worse."

For the second consecutive 12-month reporting period, New Mexico led the nation in the increase in drug overdose deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For the 12-month period ending in January, reported overdose deaths in New Mexico rose 22%, while they fell 14% nationwide.

Keller called on New Mexico's congressional delegation to seek answers about DEA policies and how the public was protected while agents allowed fentanyl to continue circulating 鈥� a practice commonly referred to as fentanyl "walking."

Democratic U.S. Reps. Melanie Stansbury, Gabe Vasquez and Teresa Leger Fern谩ndez sent a letter Thursday to DEA Administrator Terry Cole, requesting an inquiry.

Also Thursday, Cole announced he had asked the Justice Department's Office of Inspector General to investigate allegations of fentanyl "walking" raised by Albuquerque-based DEA whistleblower David Howell, a 19-year agency veteran.

Howell said he initially filed his complaint with the inspector general, but the matter was referred in late 2023 to the DEA's Office of Professional Responsibility.

That office concluded the agents 鈥� along with federal prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney's Office who supervised the wiretap investigations 鈥� acted appropriately and did not engage in conduct that constituted "a substantial and specific danger to public health and safety."

Federal reports and court filings reviewed by the Journal show agents declined to seize more than 300,000 fentanyl pills during several drug trafficking investigations from 2023 through early 2025.

It remains unclear where the fentanyl went after couriers completed the deliveries. Howell said DEA policy "had been consistently interpreted to require the stopping of all individuals and vehicles believed to be transporting fentanyl."

The Office of Professional Responsibility concluded there was no requirement to stop investigation targets whenever fentanyl was suspected to be present, "but rather, to allow investigative teams to use discretion when deciding how to handle an investigation."

The city's public safety director, Raul Bujanda, said during his four years as special agent in charge of the FBI's New Mexico office, the bureau conducted major narcotics investigations but never allowed fentanyl to be released into the community as part of its operational plans.

"We never were going to walk any amount of drugs. Period," said Bujanda, who retired from the FBI in May 2025 after 22 years with the bureau.

He pointed to a September 2022 operation in which the FBI seized more than 1 million fentanyl pills, more than 140 pounds of methamphetamine and nearly $2 million in cash during a raid on the home of a South Valley drug trafficker.

The fentanyl seizure was the largest in FBI history, and the 30-year prison sentence imposed on the organization's leader, Jesse Young, was among the stiffest handed down by a federal judge in New Mexico over the past decade.

"We didn't need to walk fentanyl to make that case," Bujanda said, adding that Albuquerque police also do not use the tactic in narcotics investigations.

Instead, the FBI typically relies on undercover purchases, confidential informants and, at times, controlled deliveries in which drugs are tracked during a transaction and then recovered.

"You stop it and control it and you take those drugs back," Bujanda said.

Keller said he wants answers from the Justice Department and the DEA regarding the policies governing fentanyl wiretap investigations, the safeguards used to protect communities when enforcement actions are delayed, whether state and local law enforcement agencies are notified of those decisions, and how much of the fentanyl involved in the investigations was ultimately recovered. He also wants to know whether additional oversight or policy changes are needed.

"We need to understand why this decision was made, who was involved and at what level," Keller said. "Statistically, if there's 300,000 extra pills, hundreds of people died because of this policy. The response from the DOJ and others that this is somehow just part of life 鈥� that New Mexicans have to be sacrificed for the greater good 鈥� is absolutely disgusting."

Colleen Heild is an investigative reporter for the Journal. Reach her at cheild@abqjournal.com. Journal reporters Olivier Uyttebrouck and Nakayla McClelland contributed to this report.