House Republicans on the Oversight Committee opened an investigation Monday into a Drug Enforcement Administration strategy that permitted large quantities of fentanyl to reach U.S. streets in New Mexico while agents built larger trafficking cases.

Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., sent a letter to Attorney General Todd Blanche requesting records on the tactic. The probe focuses on Biden administration changes that loosened Trump-era protocols requiring agents to seize fentanyl shipments as soon as practicable.

An Associated Press investigation earlier this year detailed how DEA agents in New Mexico monitored but did not interdict hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills between 2023 and 2025. Whistleblowers alleged agents were ordered to stand down on shipments to pursue bigger cases against trafficking organizations.

New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez filed a lawsuit last week seeking similar records from the Justice Department. Comer stated that a policy directing agents not to intercept significant shipments is unconscionable and resulted in harm and lives lost.

The DEA has not responded to requests for comment on the new congressional inquiry. The committee's review targets the reversal of earlier safeguards during America's deadliest drug epidemic.