Between 2023 and 2025, the DEA allowed hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills to reach New Mexico streets while agents monitored the shipments but made no seizures — a strategy three current and former DEA agents say was intended to build larger cases against traffickers. The AP reviewed government records and interviewed the agents to confirm the pattern. The tactic meant deadly drugs flooded communities while federal agents watched, raising serious questions about whether the long-term case-building strategy was worth the immediate public health toll.