ICE & DEA Seattle MOUs Outline "Controlled Delivery" Deconfliction

Today, the Associated Press (AP) published an investigation revealing that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) "permitted hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills to be distributed in New Mexico as part of an effort to build bigger federal prosecutions."

“We poisoned our community to make cases,” DEA whistleblower David Howell told the AP, "we 100% got people killed.”

While the AP's reporting is focused on New Mexico, documents obtained by HardPressed through a public records request reveal new details concerning the procedures between DEA and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) which knowingly allow the transit of drugs across the U.S. border.

Three memorandum of understanding (MOU) obtained by HardPressed outline local deconfliction protocols within two separate MOUs signed in 2010, and an unsigned and undated interagency cooperation agreement between DEA and ICE.

The interagency cooperation agreement outlines the protocol for "sensitive investigative activities" and for DEA "pass throughs," where the DEA knowingly allows drugs to transit across the U.S. border.

The MOUs were emailed from the DEA to the Kent Police Department in 2013. The agreements "remain in effect unless terminated or modified."

HardPressed asked the DEA and ICE if the MOUs still remain in effect. Both agencies did not respond to requests for comment.

HardPressed has filed a Freedom of Information Act request aiming to uncover DEA "pass through" notifications from 2025 and 2026 at the U.S. border with Canada.

Fentanyl overdose deaths in King County reached a record high of 112 deaths in one month alone in March 2023. Last month 43 fentanyl overdose deaths were recorded by the King County Medical Examiner's Office.