New Mexico health officials warn of smoke impacts as Frijoles Fire grows to more than 3,000 acres
—Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
Monday warned that smoke from the Frijoles Fire and other wildfires burning in the state poses health risks, particularly to the elderly and those with respiratory illnesses.
Smoke from the Frijoles Fire, which is burning in the Pecos Wilderness and has grown to more than 3,000 acres, is currently visible from Santa Fe, Cundiyó, Nambe, Chimayó, Pojoaque and Española, according to Santa Fe National Forest officials.
The Frijoles Fire was among eight, presumably lightning-caused wildfires that ignited last week in the Santa Fe National Forest, along with several others burning across the state as a heat wave collides with the expected onset of the monsoon season.
State health and environment department officials said in a news release that people should use the “5-3-1” visibility rule in assessing their smoke risk.
Those who are experiencing visibility limited to five miles due to smoke should limit their time outdoors if they are over age 65, pregnant or have a heart issue or respiratory illness.
People otherwise “more likely to be affected by smoke” should stay inside if visibility is less than three miles.
And everyone should stay inside if visibility is less than one mile due to smoke, the health department notice says, unless an evacuation notice is issued.
“As smoke from any fire impacts the state, we encourage residents to stay informed and take steps to protect their health,” said Cindy Hollenberg, air quality bureau chief for the New Mexico Environment Department, in a statement.
The Frijoles Fire grew to roughly 3,300 acres Monday, marking a huge increase in acreage from the 500-acre footprint it reached Saturday. The fire remained 0% contained as of Monday morning, though crews were at work throughout the day building containment lines and dropping retardant and water on the blaze.
No evacuation orders are currently in place, though Santa Fe County officials have alerted residents of Cundiyo and Cerro Piñon to be on “ready” status, which means they should work on creating a wildfire buffer around their home and also keep an eye on official announcements.
Anti-uranium advocates wrest control of public hearing on proposed mine near Navajo Nation
—Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
A recent hearing meant to inform the public about a new uranium mine proposal near Church Rock instead exposed wounds around the legacy of mining’s impacts on Navajo communities, as well as fresh concerns about whether technology that promises to safely extract the mineral is as clean as the industry claims.
Laramide Resources, a Canadian mining company, and its subsidiary NuFuels, Inc., held a public hearing Thursday at a casino near Gallup as it seeks a permit from the New Mexico Environment Department to discharge.
But Navajo anti-mining advocates, as well as those who still remember the cascading consequences from the 1979 Church Rock mine spill, shouted out repeatedly during the company’s presentation. They expressed frustration that NuFuels would pursue a uranium mine in an area still contending with the biggest uranium spill in the nation’s history, as well as numerous other public health and environmental harms from decades of uranium mining.
About half way through company Vice President Josh Leftwich’s presentation, advocate Jenn Nez slowly got to her feet and walked toward Leftwich, ultimately convincing him to hand her his microphone.
Through tears, Nez described cancer and other health issues she said uranium contamination caused in her family. Leftwich did not get the microphone back for most of the rest of the 90-minute meeting, as a line of fellow opponents gathered alongside Nez and waited for their chance to speak.
“Thank you for giving us this opportunity, because we took it from you,” Teracita Keyanna, vice president of the Red Water Pond Road Community Association Executive Committee, told Leftwich. “This is my community. This is my family. That’s my home you’re talking about.”
Leftwich’s presentation centered on a proposed uranium project called Church Rock Section 8, which the company hopes to build on a 175-acre site of private land surrounded by the Navajo Nation, which bans uranium mining. Before Leftwich was interrupted, he detailed how the company sought to use a mining method known as in situ recovery to access roughly 10 million pounds of uranium contained in sandstone formations in the underground aquifer.
In situ recovery entails the injection of lixiviant — a chemical solution composed of water, oxygen and either carbon dioxide or sodium bicarbonate — to dissolve the uranium underground. From there, pumps extract the uranium liquid into recovery wells, where the uranium is separated. The leftover water is then discharged back into the aquifer.
“It’s a closed-loop system,” Leftwich said. “There won’t be any other discharges. The water just circulates through the formation to extract the uranium.”
Bertha Nez, a Navajo elder who grew up in the Red Water Pond community, listens Aug. 6, 2026, as presenters from NuFuels, Inc. describe their proposal to extract uranium from the Church Rock area. (Patrick Lohmann/Source NM)
The company’s permit application notes that, when fully operational, it will seek to discharge roughly 4,000 gallons of leftover water a minute back into the aquifer, which provides drinking water to the Crownpoint community. That would be the equivalent of about nine Olympic-size swimming pools’ worth of water a day.
The company cannot begin mining until the NMED rules on the permit application, which officials said will take at least a year.
Still, Leftwich’s presentation extolled the virtues of in situ recovery as a low-emissions means of extracting uranium without risking the lives of workers underground.
The company would also employ monitoring wells to ensure the water quality meets federal and state standards, and the company is in preliminary stages of a research project with Los Alamos National Laboratories that aims to restore the groundwater supply with “approaches tailored to the geology of the Churchrock deposit.”
However, state officials are dubious about the company’s promises to restore the groundwater to its pre-mining condition. Earlier Thursday, the New Mexico Department of Justice weighed in on the company’s pending license renewal application to the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission with a 39-page rebuttal of numerous claims the company has made regarding its operation and in situ recovery more broadly.
The NMDOJ’s “petition to intervene” argues that in situ recovery has never been proven to restore groundwater supplies to their pre-mining states and that no technology yet exists to do so. It cites NuFuels’ own statements in an unrelated filing before the NRC in 2023, in which the company states that, “to date, no ISR site has restored all groundwater constituents of concern to pre-operational concentrations” and that uranium levels “tend to gradually rebound” in aquifers after the treatment.
Therefore, the NMDOJ wrote, the company has acknowledged “that the technology needed to ensure compliance with the governing restoration standard does not yet exist and that developing it is the object of ongoing research.”
Advocates who wrested the microphone from Leftwich on Thursday also raised concerns about what they said is untested technology, with one woman shouting that the NuFuels was making “Guinea pigs” out of the communities downstream of the mine site.
Leftwich told Source NM after the hearing that he was surprised the New Mexico Department of Justice would weigh in on what he sees as a “pretty small issue” regarding a single mine in the Church Rock area, “compared to big issues, like across the state.”
As for the hearing itself, he said he was content to let people “speak their minds” about the issue, but also that legacy uranium issues and “misinformation” are preventing a productive community debate. The hearing also marked the beginning of a 60-day public comment period.
“This is the first of hopefully multiple meetings that we can get more in-depth,” he said. “I really wish we could have good meetings.”
Former WNMU president asks judge to reinstate state auditor, lawmakers as lawsuit defendants
—Joshua Bowling, Source New Mexico
An attorney for former Western New Mexico University President Joseph Shepard on Monday asked a judge to undo a prior ruling that shielded the state auditor and several state lawmakers from his lawsuit that alleges they colluded to force him out of the job.
Shepard resigned as university president in late 2024 after news reports and State Auditor Joseph Maestas revealed how he and other university leaders used taxpayer and university foundation money to pay for international trips and exotic home furnishings. His resignation came with a $1.9 million severance payout and a tenured teaching job in the university’s business school.
A newly appointed Board of Regents last summer voted to undo the payout and teaching contract. Shepard sued the university over the decision last October and named Maestas and several state lawmakers as defendants, alleging that they colluded to force him out of the job after he previously raised questions about some of the Legislature’s education spending.
Sixth Judicial District Court Judge Jarod Hofacket previously ruled that Maestas and the lawmakers are protected by legislative immunity — meaning they were acting within the normal course of their jobs as public officials — and granted their requests to be removed as defendants.
Attorneys representing the government officials argued during the Monday morning hearing that Shepard’s motion to reconsider was more a “motion to reargue issues that the court has already considered and decided.”
“The motion to reconsider points to no intervening change in law, no newly discovered evidence and no issue that the court overlooked,” Taylor Lueras, an attorney representing the lawmakers, said.
Hofacket did not rule from the bench and told attorneys on both sides of the dispute that he would issue a written ruling, but did not specify when.
Shepard’s time as university president is the subject of several other ongoing lawsuits.
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez sued him in early 2025 in a bid to claw back his severance payment and the State Ethics Commission sued him last summer over allegations that he built a patio near his on-campus house to host events related to his daughter’s wedding with money intended for Americans with Disabilities Act-compliance projects.
Both cases are set to go to trial in 2027.
Northern New Mexico fire grows to 3,000 acres - Gregory R.C. Hasman, Albuquerque Journal
A few thousand acres are burning in the Pecos Wilderness, north of Santa Fe.
No injuries or structural damages have been reported.
The Frijoles Fire began Tuesday. As of 9 p.m. Sunday, it had grown to 3,000 acres with 0% containment. Lightning is being attributed as the cause, according to the U.S. Forest Service.
The Frijoles Fire, in the Española Ranger District, is 3 miles southeast of Cundiyó and about 35 miles north of Santa Fe.
There are 101 firefighters battling the flames, along with large air tankers and helicopters, which continued dropping retardant and water on Sunday in an attempt to slow the fire’s growth, according to the U.S. Forest Service.
Temperatures this week will range from the upper 70s to mid-80s with 20%-35% relative humidity. The chances of precipitation will increase as the week progresses. Lightning, brief heavy rainfall, localized flooding, and sudden wind shifts will be the primary weather concerns for fire operations, according to the U.S. Forest Service.
While no evacuations have been ordered, on Saturday, the Santa Fe County Fire Department issued a social media post informing Cundiyó and Cerro Piñon residents to be on ready status.
“READY means being prepared before an evacuation becomes necessary,” the post states. “Review your evacuation plan, know where you will go, have multiple routes identified, and have your emergency supply kit ready.”
A road closure has been issued for N.M. 503 between Santa Fe County Road 98 and N.M. 76. The public is also being asked to avoid the fire area and the Santa Cruz Overlook Road and Campground.
“Visitors are encouraged to avoid the fire area and use caution when traveling near firefighting operations,” according to the forest service.
Along with potentially dealing with motorists, another concern facing firefighters are drones.
The Santa Fe County Fire Department has posted on social media, reminding people not to fly drones in or around the fire.
“An unauthorized drone near the fire can create a serious safety hazard and may force firefighting aircraft to leave the area or suspend air operations,” according to SFCFD. “Please keep your drone grounded and allow firefighters and aircraft to do their jobs safely. If you fly, they can’t!”
More fire information can be found on InciWeb.
Lawmakers readying social media protection bills in wake of landmark New Mexico court ruling – Dan Boyd, Albuquerque Journal
A state judge’s decision that social media juggernaut Meta must pay New Mexico $567 million for harm to teenagers in the state made national waves when it was issued this week.
But it might only be a first step.
After New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez urged state lawmakers Friday to take additional action to protect younger state residents from the rapidly evolving technology, some legislators said they’ve already been working on such an approach.
Rep. Linda Serrato, D-Santa Fe, said she and other legislators are planning a multipronged approach to regulating social media platforms and artificial intelligence during the 60-day legislative session that starts in January.
That effort could include imposing an age verification requirement for social media use, restricting chatbot interactions for minors and updating existing consumer protection laws.
“I do think we’re at a place where my colleagues and I are ready to pass some laws,” said Serrato, who tried unsuccessfully in 2025 to pass digital age verification legislation.
“This isn’t the time for states to throw up their hands,” she added, citing a relative lack of federal protections when it comes to social media use.
However, any laws enacted by legislators could face legal scrutiny. A federal judge in 2024 blocked a Utah law that imposed restrictions on minors’ accounts, ruling it violated social media companies’ free speech rights.
There’s also the issue of how lawmakers will appropriate any money paid out by Meta under the landmark court ruling. The social media company that owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp has said it plans to appeal the decision by District Judge Bryan Biedscheid, which followed a $375 million jury verdict awarded in March.
New Mexico has struggled in recent years with a shortage of behavioral health providers, which could complicate efforts to expand mental health treatment for teenagers negatively affected by social media use.
In addition, two recent audits have raised questions about the ability of the state and local governments to effectively spend available treatment and prevention dollars.
One of the reports found that about half of the $110 million in opioid settlement funds received by New Mexico municipalities and counties for drug treatment and prevention programs has gone unspent. The other audit concluded the Children, Youth and Families Department had misspent money intended for children’s behavioral health services, though the agency disputed the claim.
Gubernatorial candidates weigh in on ruling
With Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham set to leave office at the end of this year due to term limits, much of the state’s response to the Meta court rulings could fall to New Mexico’s next governor.
Democratic nominee Deb Haaland said Friday she was grateful to Torrez for standing up for children and families traumatized by social media use. She also expressed support for additional legislation on the matter.
“As governor, I’ll prioritize our kids and provide them with the right outlets to further their development, and I support modernizing New Mexico’s consumer protection laws to hold corporations accountable for price-gouging, exploiting our personal data, and negatively impacting our health and well-being,” Haaland said in a statement.
Her opponent in the Nov. 3 general election, Republican Gregg Hull, expressed more reservations about Biedscheid’s ruling.
Specifically, Hull said a lack of action by the Democratic-controlled Legislature had prompted the court intervention on the issue.
“A judge in Santa Fe has now decided how many hours a month a New Mexico teenager may spend on an app, when their phone may buzz and whether they get to see how many people liked their photo,” Hull said in a statement.
“I understand the impulse. I don’t question the judge’s motives. But I don’t think a courtroom is where we decide how much screen time is right for a 15-year-old,” he added. “If these lines are going to be drawn, they should be drawn by legislators who answer to voters.”
Short-term implications
While it could take months for Meta’s appeal to be decided, a Lujan Grisham spokesperson said Friday the Governor’s Office was already reviewing the implications of the judge’s ruling for state government.
Specifically, the outgoing governor’s spokesperson, Michael Coleman, said the Lujan Grisham administration would work with the attorney general’s office to ensure Meta carries out its obligations under the ruling.
“Judge Biedscheid’s ruling reinforces what we already knew: These platforms were built to keep children addicted to their phones, not safe,” Coleman told the Journal.
He also cited the Democratic governor’s push to ban cellphones in New Mexico public schools. A student cellphone ban passed the Senate during the final days of this year’s 30-day session, but stalled in the House.
“Teachers shouldn’t have to compete with apps for their students’ attention, and parents shouldn’t have to wait for the next lawsuit to know what their kids are exposed to online,” said Coleman.
Heat-related illnesses on rise in New Mexico amid record-high temperatures – Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
Already this summer, 770 New Mexicans have visited statewide emergency rooms for heat-related illnesses. That’s more than all of last summer, according to the state Health Department, with more than a month remaining in the season.
The spike in heat-related emergencies comes amid a statewide record heat wave. In the first week of August, Albuquerque and Farmington have broken six high temperature records, with temperatures hovering above 100 degrees each day this month, National Weather Service meteorologist Randall Hergert told Source NM on Friday.
The service has also issued multiple heat advisories throughout August, including one in effect through Saturday evening for those cities as well as northern New Mexico between Los Alamos and Taos.
Hergert said much of the state has endured a “dry patch” without adequate afternoon monsoons to offset heat and decrease overnight low temperatures. But he said forecasts call for a respite beginning early next week, with more moisture and temperatures finally decreasing below triple digits.
State health officials, in a news release Thursday, urged the public, particularly elderly and young children, to stay hydrated and avoid the sun if possible.
“Anyone can be affected, but children, adults over 65, outdoor workers and people with chronic conditions are more susceptible and should take extra care when it’s hot,” Chelsea Langer, chief of the department’s Health Epidemiology Bureau, said in a statement.
For those without air conditions, the state’s new Office of Housing has spent some of its legislative funding to help set up five cooling centers in southern New Mexico, where temperatures have regularly exceeded 100 degrees Fahrenheit all summer.
The cooling centers opened with the help of $20,000 grants the office provided to the town of Tatum, City of Hobbs and Eastern Regional Housing Authority of Roswell, department spokesperson Stacy Johnston told Source NM in an email. During a cold snap this January, the office also provided about $820,000 for warming centersto entities across the state.
One of the Roswell cooling centers is housed in a Presbyterian church on the outskirts of the city. Ernie Montoya, a volunteer with the church and Food Not Bombs Roswell, told Source NM on Thursday that the center has already served nearly 2,000 people, most of them unhoused, along with 300 of their pets. The center has also served as a hub to offer people showers, haircuts and other services.
“The impact is huge. We are changing people’s lives tremendously, even if it’s just a haircut,” he said. “They feel like they’re being forgotten. We don’t have to be the hand that pushes them down. We can be the hand that lifts them up.”
New Mexico’s power grid hits all-time high amid punishing heat – Justin Horwath, Albuquerque Journal
Victoria Webb ushers moviegoers to their seats at Sky Cinemas, the multiplex in Santa Fe’s Railyard. Outside, there’s a cloud cover. But temperatures remain high.
A water bottle and small fan provide Webb some relief from heat that sweeps through the doors and windows of the lobby. To cool down, employees huddle in the keg room, she said.
“With ‘Spider-Man’ and ‘The Odyssey,’ we definitely have seen more traffic,” Webb, general manager of the theater, said in an interview Friday. “With the heat, I think it brings a lot more people to the theater because they want to be cool.”
Not so cool? The theater’s monthly electric bill. Webb estimates the last bill was somewhere between $1,000 and $1,500 — about 15% to 20% — higher than normal.
As triple-digit temperatures envelop areas of the state, New Mexico’s electric grid has been strained.
In an earnings call last week, TXNM Energy Inc., parent company of Public Service Company of New Mexico, reported record-high electricity demand.
That is why Don Tarry, TXNM’s president and CEO, said the utility is proposing to merge with Blackstone Inc. in a deal valued at $11.5 billion.
“Increased retail load at both PNM and (Texas-New Mexico Power Co.), including new all-time system peaks this summer, underscores the need for grid investment to support growing customer demand,” Tarry said in a statement.
In late May, PNM filed its 2029 to 2032 resource plan with the state Public Regulation Commission, the three-member body that approves utilities’ requests to build more infrastructure. PNM asked for approval to purchase 800 megawatts of wind power, 240 megawatts of solar and 610 megawatts of battery storage from renewable energy developers.
The company, like all investor-owned utilities in the state, must provide 100% carbon-free power by 2045 as part of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s 2019 Energy Transition Act. TXNM said during its earnings call that it would abandon the Four Corners Power Plant by 2031.
“Even during the hottest weeks of summer, New Mexico was powered by 62% renewable energy” in July, Lujan Grisham said in a Wednesday social media post. “Just five years ago, coal and natural gas generated about 83% of the electricity serving PNM customers in July.”
PNM officials say they are making great strides in building an electric grid free of carbon emissions, a product of burning fossil fuels like natural gas and coal. Even so, PNM asked the PRC to approve a 40-megawatt expansion of a natural gas plant in its resource plan.
In an interview Thursday, three PNM officials said the grid reached an all-time system high of 2,264 megawatts on Monday. That is 6% higher than the previous record set during a July 2023 heatwave, said Omni Warner, senior vice president of operations for PNM.
The peak occurred at 5 p.m., he said.
Around 5 p.m., people’s air conditioning, and need for energy, rises, Warner said. PNM has 500 megawatts of rooftop solar on its grid, he said. “So as the customers’ rooftop solar goes down, their solar isn’t producing, but we still have to supply to their HVAC, their load,” Warner said.
He added, “We are built, we are ready for it, and we met those needs without any concerns or issues on our system.”
A Yale Climate Connections study of PNM’s grid released late last month said that in the Southwestern U.S., electricity is cheap during sunny days because solar panels are cranking out electrons at the same time.
“Summer evenings are hot, even as the sun eases toward the horizon and solar production wanes,” the study said. “That’s when PNM’s battery fleet comes to life, delivering the solar energy stored a few hours earlier.”
Still, Warner said, the company relies on its thermal generators — nuclear, gas and coal — during nighttime hours when renewables are not generating new energy.
Lisa Goodman, spokesperson for TXNM, said in the interview that the total capacity of the grid is roughly 4,900 megawatts. She added that PNM has seen customer growth of up to 1% annually.
Goodman said the utility has a number of programs to help customers stay cool and cut costs. The Good Neighbor Fund is the utility’s emergency utility assistance program for low-income households.
For residential customers, the Power Saver program allows PNM to adjust ratepayers’ thermostats for brief periods during the day when the utility needs more power. Peak Saver is a similar program for businesses. The utility also offers home energy checkups at no charge.
Kai Porter, another spokesperson for PNM, said a resident can save up to 4% on electricity for every degree higher a thermostat is set. He advised residents to crack windows if they have evaporative coolers to keep them operating efficiently. Closing the blinds during sweltering days also cools homes, he said.
“Obviously, we don’t want customers uncomfortably hot,” Porter said. “So we tell customers to just set the thermostat as high as comfort permits.”
Webb, the Sky Cinemas manager, said while the lobby might be hot for some, the thermostats in the theaters are set at 69 degrees.
“If it was up to me, I would go lower,” she said. “But all the older people are just like, ‘It’s freezing in there.’”
Secret 'Project Mars' roils Torrance County residents - Cormac Dodd, Santa Fe New Mexican
Residents in Torrance county are demanding answers about a secretive proposal for the area called “Project Mars.” The Santa Fe New Mexican reports the project is a manufacturing plant for a Department of Defense contractor.
County commissioners and state legislators representing the area say they have signed NDAs related to the project and couldn’t divulge many details about Project Mars.
What has been outlined by officials include basic bullet points- contractors for Project Mars expect the campus to be over 2,200 acres and create 300 high-paying jobs. They also said the project wouldn’t be a burden on water.
The plan came to light when a county manager reached out to local ranchers about their state trust land being eyed for the project and that their lease could be bought out. Residents at county meetings are demanding more details about the project and are criticizing commissioners for meeting behind closed doors.
The biggest obstacle this project faces is the State Land Office, which says it is not considering to lease the state trust land being occupied by local ranchers. But, this could change after the November election to replace the outgoing Commissioner of Public Lands.
Professor alleges 'culture of discrimination' at New Mexico Highlands University - Margaret O’Hara, Santa Fe New Mexican
A Highlands University professor alleges a culture of discrimination at the school due to it not renewing his work visa.
The Santa Fe New Mexican reports Bilgesu Sümer alleges the school mishandled the renewal of his H-1B work visa, even when he has given them ample time and continual follow-ups.
Sümer was reappointed to a tenure-track position for the upcoming year, but now can’t return due to his work status. According to the University’s faculty union president, renewing these visas have been a standard process for the University for years. Sümer and other faculty also claim that Highlands is using the visa renewal process as a tool to push unwanted faculty out.
The Trump Administration has tried to raise the fee of these “specialized knowledge” visas to $100,000, but Sümer’s immigration attorneys say that as a public institution Highlands would have had to pay a $460 fee.
Sümer says he is considering filing a lawsuit. If he does, this would be the third the school would face in relation to discrimination and retaliation being present in the workplace.
New Mexico sunshine law in the spotlight as task force considers changes - Santa Fe New Mexican
The State of New Mexico’s municipal governments are considering their options for handling an increasing number of public records requests.
The Santa Fe New Mexican reports that since 202o, records requests have more than doubled in many municipalities.
In response, the New Mexico Department of Justice has been conducting a listening tour this year that included eight stops in different parts of the state..
Open-government advocates want governments to increase staffing for fulfilling requests.
Local governments have suggested a ban or limit on out-of-state requests.
The City of Santa Fe plans to expand its resources for responding to police bodycam footage requests.
City officials say such requests are less than 10% of the total submitted, but account for close to half of the workload for the city staff who manage the information requests.
Third DEA whistleblower alleges retaliation over fentanyl seizures - Colleen Heild, Albuquerque Journal
Yuren Miranda-Vasquez had a free pass — while it lasted.
In November 2022, agents with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration stopped the drug courier as he hauled about 120,000 fentanyl pills and 10 kilograms of methamphetamine into Albuquerque from Arizona.
Instead of arresting and charging Miranda-Vasquez, agents let him go. Over the next six months, they watched as he moved an estimated 250,000 to 500,000 additional fentanyl pills into New Mexico on road trips from Phoenix.
During that time, investigators never stopped the courier or seized any drugs as hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills and other narcotics traveled into Albuquerque for distribution, according to a new whistleblower complaint filed with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel in Washington.
The agent’s complaint is the third of its kind detailing the controversial DEA investigative practice that has allowed massive quantities of the lethal opioid to reach Albuquerque streets during long-term wiretap investigations into drug trafficking networks.
In 2023, veteran DEA agent David Howell of Albuquerque filed a confidential whistleblower complaint after he was reprimanded for stopping and seizing a suspected fentanyl shipment being monitored through a court-approved wiretap.
Howell said he was following an internal DEA risk-mitigation policy and cited multiple examples of federal prosecutors and agents violating the directive by permitting the trafficking of fentanyl.
But the U.S. Office of Special Counsel informed President Donald Trump in September that an internal investigation found the decisions not to seize the drugs that Howell criticized “appeared reasonable” and that no substantial or specific danger to public health and safety had occurred.
Based on Howell’s complaint, federal records and interviews, the Albuquerque Journal and The Associated Press in June published reports about “fentanyl walking” in New Mexico. That spurred investigations by the New Mexico attorney general and the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Inspector General that remain ongoing.
The latest whistleblower complaint, filed Aug. 3 on behalf of an unidentified DEA agent in the agency’s Albuquerque office, states that after the 2022 encounter, agents monitored the courier’s movements and phone calls for months through wiretaps and other investigative techniques.
Agents finally stopped Miranda-Vasquez on May 28, 2023, and filed charges after finding 19 kilograms of fentanyl and 7 kilograms of methamphetamine in his vehicle.
“Walking” narcotics has been a routine law enforcement tool for identifying suspects, their vehicles and stash houses, as well as tracking down higher-level drug suppliers during wiretap investigations, according to defense attorneys and federal prosecutors.
But some current and former DEA agents contend the practice is too risky when fentanyl is involved, given the potential lethality of even a small amount of the drug.
Last December, Miranda-Vasquez was sentenced to 48 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy and other drug charges. No other defendants were charged in the trafficking scheme.
Last week, there was no public record of Miranda-Vasquez’s current whereabouts, much less where the unseized drug shipments went.
Miranda-Vasquez’s attorney could not be reached for comment.
In an earlier case, Miranda-Vasquez pleaded guilty in May 2020 to possession with intent to distribute a Schedule II controlled substance. U.S. District Judge Judith Herrera sentenced him to three years in federal prison and ordered the initiation of removal proceedings by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Whistleblower allegations
The unidentified DEA agent in the latest whistleblower case is asking the U.S. Office of Special Counsel to investigate a series of “adverse personnel actions” taken against him.
He is one of four agents on the Albuquerque division’s elite special response team, which specializes in large-scale takedowns and high-risk arrests and search warrants.
He contends his treatment by DEA supervisors is due, in part, to his participation in the refusal to obey an order not to seize large shipments of fentanyl. Details of that allegation were redacted from a copy of the complaint provided to the Journal.
The complaint also cites disclosures the agent made that failing to seize large shipments of fentanyl possibly violated DEA and internal Department of Justice policies.
As a result of his disclosures, the complaint states, his duties and responsibilities have changed significantly. For example, he has been required to document his whereabouts during spot checks on targets during work hours and has been threatened with removal from the special response team.
The complaint was filed by Empower Oversight, a national whistleblower nonprofit organization based in Fairfax, Virginia. Its president, Tristan Leavitt, told the Journal last week that much of the complaint was redacted to protect the agent’s identity.
“This complaint highlights additional instances of agents being chastised for seizing fentanyl, and also demonstrates the highly retaliatory culture under Assistant Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey Armijo,” Leavitt said.
Armijo became the top supervisor in the Albuquerque DEA office in 2024, two years after supervising the team that tracked Miranda-Vasquez as he hauled fentanyl into Albuquerque in 2022 and 2023, the complaint states.
Working with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Armijo’s group monitored the courier’s movements and believes Miranda-Vasquez “made a minimum of at least five large deliveries over the following months, each time bringing 50,000-100,000 fentanyl pills and 20-40 pounds of methamphetamine per trip.”
The DEA in June denied that agents “walked” fentanyl and more recently declined to answer questions about Armijo.
On July 15, retired DEA agent Kevin Small, now working as a financial investigator on contract, accused Armijo of retaliating against him after he voiced support for Howell. His whistleblower complaint contends Armijo told other DEA agents not to give him further work. Small is quitting Aug. 31.
Leavitt’s nonprofit, Empower Oversight, has two former agents with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives on its whistleblower advisory panel. Both became whistleblowers by exposing the controversial gun-walking Operation Fast and Furious beginning in 2011.
Hoping to trace weapons up the criminal chain, ATF agents permitted illegal straw buyers to purchase about 2,000 firearms and “walk,” or smuggle, them to Mexican cartels.
But the strategy proved a failure after U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was killed in 2010 in Rio Rico, Arizona. He was fatally shot with guns at the scene that were identified as having been purchased by a suspect in Operation Fast and Furious.
