In May 2025, the Department of Justice announced the “largest fentanyl bust in DEA history,” seizing over 400 kilograms of fentanyl and dismantling one of the most dangerous drug trafficking organizations ever encountered on American soil. The operation netted 16 arrests, including the leader of a Sinaloa Cartel operation, along with $5 million in cash and 49 firearms.
The centerpiece of this enforcement triumph was the seizure of 2.7 million fentanyl pills in Albuquerque, New Mexico—a single bust that removed enough poison to kill millions of Americans. “This historic drug seizure, led by the DEA, is a significant blow against the Sinaloa Cartel that removes poison from our streets and protects American citizens from the scourge of fentanyl,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi.
To understand the vital importance of these enforcement efforts, one need only visit Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood—a stark reminder of what happens when deadly drugs flood American communities.
In this Democratic stronghold, visitors are “immediately met with a grim reality” where “sidewalks are littered with trash and used needles” and people are “slumped over in a trance-like state.” The scene is “eerily silent” as individuals remain “so fixated on preparing and shooting up drugs that they don’t even acknowledge or notice passersby.”
Heroin has been replaced by fentanyl and other opioids, including “tranq”—the street name for xylazine, a horse tranquilizer that leaves users in a “zombie-like state” and causes “necrotic skin ulcers that can lead to severe infections and even amputations.”
This is the devastating reality that the Trump administration’s enforcement efforts are directly combating. Every pill seized represents a potential overdose prevented, a family spared tragedy, and a community given hope.
