New DHS Inspector General Report Finds ICE Significantly Diverted Staff and Resources Away from Efforts to Stop Illicit Fentanyl From Entering the Country Under Trump
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH), a senior member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, pressed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for answers about its apparent neglect of its responsibilities to combat illegal fentanyl trafficking. Her request follows a new Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General report that found that ICE diverted significant personnel and resources away from counter-fentanyl and counter-cartel efforts under the Trump Administration – leading to a nearly 40 percent decrease in fentanyl seizures.
“I write to request information on the diversion of ICE personnel and resources away from essential efforts to combat transnational criminal organizations and stop illegal fentanyl from reaching American communities… According to [the Inspector General report], Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), an ICE component responsible for investigating and disrupting transnational criminal organizations, has significantly reduced its work to combat fentanyl since the start of the Trump Administration, which in turn has led to fewer HSI fentanyl investigations and fewer seizures of this deadly drug,” wrote Senator Hassan.
Senator Hassan continued, “From October 2024 through September 2025, fentanyl investigations that HSI conducted fell by 24 percent, fentanyl seizures fell by 39 percent, and investigative hours devoted to fentanyl fell by approximately 30 percent (a decrease of more than 250,000 hours). During this same time period, the Drug Enforcement Administration saw a 25 percent increase in the amount of fentanyl powder that it seized, which raises the concern that HSI’s decreased results in combatting fentanyl trafficking have been based on a reallocation of priorities and personnel within ICE, rather than a decrease in the threat to Americans from fentanyl and transnational criminal organizations.”
Senator Hassan also highlighted ICE’s “lack of urgency to take corrective action and refocus agency resources,” given that ICE said it would not be able to complete a review of the staffing concerns raised in the Inspector General report until July 2027. Senator Hassan requested detailed information on HSI personnel and resources that have been diverted from counter-fentanyl and counter-cartel missions since the start of the Trump Administration, as well as an explanation from ICE about why it will need nearly a year to address the issues that the Inspector General found.
Read the Senator’s full letter here.
