The Obama administration let guns walk to Mexican cartels and a Border Patrol agent died.
Biden's team looked at that playbook and ran it again – this time with fentanyl.
The agent who tried to stop it just told Congress what Biden's DOJ did to him when he spoke up.
How Biden's DOJ Created the Fentanyl Walking Policy
In November 2019, the Trump Justice Department issued binding fentanyl risk protocols: federal agents with probable cause that fentanyl was being trafficked were required to move immediately toward seizure, not surveillance.
Biden's Justice Department scrapped that in early 2023.
What replaced it was a program in the Albuquerque, New Mexico district where DEA agents monitored fentanyl shipments – sometimes hundreds of thousands of pills at a time – and let them walk.
The logic came straight from then-U.S. Attorney Alex Uballez, who oversaw the program and told the Associated Press it was worth it because "the bigger fish are worth catching."
DEA Special Agent David Howell, a 19-year veteran of the agency, had a different way of describing it.
"We poisoned our community to make cases," Howell said. "We 100% got people killed."
One courier alone made at least five large deliveries from Arizona into New Mexico, each time carrying between 50,000 and 100,000 fentanyl pills along with 20 to 40 pounds of methamphetamine.
The DEA did not arrest him until June 2023.
At that point, agents found him carrying 19 kilograms of methamphetamine and 7 kilograms of fentanyl.
The DEA has noted that 1 kilogram of fentanyl carries the potential to kill 500,000 people.
DEA Whistleblower David Howell and the Retaliation That Followed
Howell filed his first whistleblower complaint in 2023, when he was told to stand down during a case where he had fentanyl in front of him and a federal wiretap running.
The DEA put Howell on desk duty for more than a year.
His performance evaluations were docked.
Federal prosecutors barred him from testifying in court because he kept seizing drugs instead of letting them walk.
A second whistleblower, financial investigator Kevin Small, who worked as a DEA contractor in Albuquerque, faced retaliation after staying in contact with Howell.
The El Paso Division began locking down case files.
The wire room – where surveillance operations are monitored – was restricted, and Small was excluded for being seen talking to Howell.
A third whistleblower emerged in August, with a complaint detailing the November 2022 delivery that kicked off the five-run courier operation.
That complaint also documented a May 2024 Justice Department training session where, when Howell raised concerns about the amount of fentanyl being allowed to walk in Albuquerque, an agent from another group cut him off.
The agent's response: "We walk fentanyl."
House Oversight Fentanyl Investigation Puts Biden Officials in the Crosshairs
While New Mexico's fentanyl poisoning deaths rose nearly 21% during the period agents were standing down, national deaths fell 14%.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., sent a letter to Attorney General Todd Blanche on demanding records.
The request covers all communications between DEA offices and the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Mexico.
Comer also wants documents on fentanyl deaths tied to criminals under DEA surveillance and internal communications on how the drugs were tracked through the state.
"While DEA agents may not have the resources to intercept every single known shipment," Comer wrote, "a policy directing them not to intercept significant shipments is unconscionable and undoubtedly resulted in considerable harm and lives lost."
New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez – a Democrat – filed suit against the Justice Department last week to force the same records loose after the federal government stonewalled the state's initial requests.
The DOJ inspector general is separately reviewing the DEA's interdiction practices following the whistleblower disclosures.
Whistleblower attorney Tristan Leavitt, who served as Sen. Chuck Grassley's lead attorney on the original Operation Fast and Furious investigation, called this scandal the equal of the Obama-era gun-walking program that ended with weapons at the scene of a Border Patrol agent's murder.
"The true cost of the DEA's fentanyl walking policy in American lives may never be fully known," Leavitt said. "But transparency into the decision-making that allowed this practice under the Biden administration is not just warranted, it is owed to the families who lost a loved one."
Trump designated fentanyl a weapon of mass destruction in December 2025.
His administration then oversaw the largest fentanyl seizure in DEA history – in Albuquerque, the same city where Biden's team had been letting it walk for two years.
Sources:
- "Comer launches probe into actions by Biden admin's DEA that allowed fentanyl to reach streets," Just the News, August 31, 2026.
- "Comer probes Biden-era DEA handling of fentanyl shipments in New Mexico," The Washington Times, August 31, 2026.
- "'We Walk Fentanyl': 3rd Whistleblower Emerges in DOJ Probe of Biden-Era DEA Scandal," The Daily Signal, August 4, 2026.
- "Nonprofit alleges DEA contractor faced retaliation for backing fentanyl whistleblower," Just the News, July 21, 2026.
- "'Fast and Furious 2.0?' Biden DEA let 1M fentanyl pills flow to streets, whistleblower lawyer says," Just the News, June 23, 2026.
- "What Trump's DEA Says About Biden-Era Fentanyl Fast and Furious Might Surprise You," The Daily Signal, June 25, 2026.
