Trump's mass deportations led to a big drop in fentanyl investigations, report finds. Here's what to know

The Department of Homeland Security's focus on mass deportations resulted in a dramatic drop in investigations into illicit fentanyl, according to a federal watchdog report.

Under President Donald Trump's administration, agents from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), a branch of Immigration and Customs Enforcement that focuses on cases related to drug trafficking, human smuggling and transnational gang activity, spent significantly more time on immigration enforcement than on investigating the potent and deadly opioid.

This shift in priorities led to a 31% drop in the number of hours agents spent on fentanyl-related criminal investigations, according to a DHS Office of the Inspector General report, published on Aug. 20. In contrast, the number of immigration enforcement hours rose by more than 800%.

The priority shift is "mixed messaging at best from the department and the administration," said Eric Balliet, a former HSI agent.

While DHS moved agents away from investigating fentanyl, the Trump administration also designated several cartels as foreign terrorist organizations and classified fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction. The drug is responsible for the majority of overdose deaths in the U.S.

READ MORE: Trump administration designates 8 Latin American cartels as 'foreign terrorist organizations'

These actions would indicate an "all hands on deck approach," toward countering fentanyl, but agent resources on the ground haven't reflected that, Balliet said.

"When you look at the competing priority list and which presents a more public safety threat to the general population of the United States, I think it's hard to say that fentanyl should not be at the top of that list," he said.

What did the report find?

To conduct the report, the federal watchdog reviewed federal laws and regulations, agency policies and reports, conducted site visits and interviewed 100 HSI agents from across the country.

At one office, the report said, HSI agents spent 99% of their time working on immigration, "leaving almost no capacity for fentanyl investigations."

The report also noted other issues hampering HSI's efforts to counter fentanyl, including a lack of funding, insufficient technology and inconsistent referrals from other agencies for investigations.

READ MORE: Justice Department watchdog to review DEA tactic that permitted deadly fentanyl to hit streets

"Given HSI's unique role in disrupting fentanyl supplies into the United States, failure to address these issues may lead to an increase in illicit fentanyl available to the public and additional overdose deaths," the report said.

What role does HSI play in countering fentanyl?

Homeland Security Investigations is tasked with conducting criminal investigations into "the illegal movement of people, goods, money, contraband, weapons and sensitive technology into, out of and through the United States," according to the ICE website.

Most illicit fentanyl enters from Mexico through official ports of entry at the U.S. southern border and is smuggled by U.S. citizens. The drug is made using precursor chemicals that often come from China.

READ MORE: House panel says China subsidizes fentanyl production to fuel crisis in the U.S.

HSI agents focused on countering fentanyl may investigate transnational criminal organizations that traffic the drug and conduct special operations to disrupt its supply chains.

When agents are diverted away from cases related to countering fentanyl, Balliet said that means fewer undercover agents being introduced into the illicit networks, combing through bank records or intercepting communications.

"All this empowers these networks to continue to operate at the scale and scope that they do," Balliet said. "You are making it easier on these networks to operate at will when they have fewer special agents that are picking apart or examining every part of their infrastructure apparatus."

In fiscal year 2024, HSI agents spent close to 207,000 hours on immigration investigations. That number jumped to nearly 2 million hours in fiscal year 2025. At the same time, fentanyl investigation hours dropped from 824,000 to less than 570,000 in the same time period.

Screenshot from a Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General report published Aug. 20, 2026.

Other agencies within DHS and across the U.S. government, including the Drug Enforcement Administration, Customs and Border Protection and the FBI, play a role in countering drugs. Agents from many of these agencies have also been instructed to prioritize immigration enforcement, according to a September 2025 report from the Cato Institute.

Where does the fentanyl crisis stand?

Fentanyl-related drug overdose deaths have been dropping since 2023. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported nearly 75,000 overdose deaths caused by synthetic opioids, mostly fentanyl, in 2022. The agency reported fewer than 38,500 deaths in 2025.

This is in part because of a decline in the supply of fentanyl, according to Jonathan Caulkins, a drug policy researcher and professor at Carnegie Mellon University.

But the drop in overdose deaths didn't warrant the administration's priority shift, Caulkins said.

"That still left deaths at an absolutely catastrophically unfathomably large number," he said.

WATCH: How harm reduction advocates are working to prevent fentanyl overdose deaths

In fact, the drop in overdose deaths and decline in fentanyl supply would have been the time to ramp up fentanyl-related investigations, the experts PBS News spoke with said.

The priority shift happened during a particularly "unfortunate" time, Caulkins said, when the fentanyl supply chain system had been disturbed. It's best to "hit the supply chain when it's already under stress."

Balliet agreed.

"Even though agents are diverted or temporarily pulled off those cases, those networks aren't going to stop," he said. "They're not going to hit the pause button. They're going to actually double down. They're going to hit the fast forward button."

What else is HSI responsible for that could be affected by the shift in priorities?

Though the watchdog report focused only on HSI's role in countering fentanyl, the Trump administration's focus on mass deportations has affected other parts of HSI's mission.

A New York Times investigation in November found that because of the administration's priority shifts, HSI agents spent 33% fewer hours on child exploitation cases from February to April compared to prior years. They reported the agents spent the fewest hours on child exploitation during that period than they have in more than a decade.

The investigation detailed that the shift in priorities took place for agents across the agency who worked on cases investigating finance terrorism, human smuggling and sex trafficking.

"At the end of the day, it becomes a good time to be involved in transnational crime," Balliet said.

How has ICE responded to the report?

At the end of the report, the inspector general made several recommendations related to its findings.

With regards to the decrease in hours spent on fentanyl-related investigations, the government watchdog recommended HSI leadership conduct a review of its staffing levels to ensure they corresponded "with the relative priority of fentanyl investigations."

ICE concurred with that and the report's three other recommendations. It said the agency would review staffing levels and "determine and implement next steps" by June 30, 2027.

Caulkins said the report is a sign of federal watchdogs working as intended.

Inspector general offices "are supposed to hold agencies accountable," he said, and the DHS' office "seemed to not mince words and to have identified things that need to be addressed."

Caulkins added that he was most struck by ICE concurring with the report's recommendations.

"This seems like the internal policing processes doing what we citizens and taxpayers would like those internal auditing processes to do," he said.