Fentanyl seizures plummet as Trump administration shifts focus to immigration
HSI spent more than $150 million on RAVEn, but auditors said the platform undercut drug cases and went largely unused by agents.
- A DHS report released last week found HSI shifted resources away from fentanyl investigations in fiscal year 2025 to prioritize immigration enforcement under White House-imposed quotas.
- Under tremendous pressure to meet White House-imposed quotas, federal agents pivoted to immigration arrests, pulling resources from fentanyl work. One office reported approximately 99 percent of its work was dedicated to immigration.
- Hours spent on fentanyl investigations declined by around 31% in fiscal year 2025, while immigration enforcement hours rose more than 1.7 million, or over 800 percent. HSI fentanyl seizures decreased 39 percent.
- Drug investigation teams were reduced to "two to three" agents due to reassignments, and the number of investigations initiated by HSI dropped 24% compared to the previous year.
- ICE HSI concurred with four report recommendations, including a staffing review to ensure appropriate fentanyl investigation coverage. The agency set an estimated completion date of June 30, 2027.
65 Articles
65 Articles
‘Atrocious’ tech hurt ICE investigation branch efforts to counter fentanyl influx
Homeland Security Investigations is failing to provide its agents with the tech toolbelt needed to address fentanyl entering the U.S., according to an inspector general report published last week. The watchdog found that HSI, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement division, spent millions to develop data analysis and information-sharing tools that underperformed and went unused. The primary te…
The change of priorities was evident: to stop chasing drug traffickers to concentrate on undocumented immigrants. The consequence was a drastic reduction, in 2025, of fentanyl seizures by the Department of National Security (DHS) investigation unit, which increases the risk that this dangerous drug will have a greater presence on the streets and, with this, deaths from overdose are raised. This is what a recent federal audit warns that questions…
New federal labor data shows that fewer Homeland Security employees in the state are working in security or emergency management roles, and more are working in immigration-related agencies.
By Priscilla Alvarez, CNN The decision of the Department of Homeland Security to reassign additional federal agents to immigration control efforts last year led to a drastic decrease in investigations and seizures of fentanyl by the department's investigation division, according to a report by a federal oversight agency.The Post Trump's immigration offensive reduced investigations into fentanyl, according to federal oversight agency appeared fir…
Coverage Details
Bias Distribution
- 52% of the sources lean Left
Factuality
To view factuality data please Upgrade to Premium
