U.S. federal prosecutions for drug crimes have fallen to their lowest level in decades this year after the Trump administration redirected agents to immigration enforcement, according to a Reuters analysis of nearly 2 million federal court records.
From Jan. 1 to Sept. 15, prosecutors filed about 10% fewer drug cases than during the same period in 2024, roughly 1,200 fewer matters, marking the slowest pace since at least the late 1990s. Reuters reports that money-laundering charges dropped 24%, and conspiracy cases also declined.
Officials interviewed by Reuters said the shift has slowed long-term probes as agents are dispatched to immigration raids and prosecutors spend more time on immigration violations. Some high-priority narcotics matters have stalled; one prosecutor told Reuters a fentanyl case he supervised is at a standstill because lead agents were reassigned to deportation work.
“You cannot conduct thorough, multi-agency drug investigations if you’re running around doing this other stuff,” a former U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration official told the news agency.
Despite the downturn in filings, the drug trade shows no clear sign of shrinking: U.S. Customs and Border Protection drug seizures are up about 6% year over year, Reuters found. Yet charges for importing drugs into the United States fell about 6% to the lowest level in at least 25 years, and drug-conspiracy counts dropped about 15%.
For financial-crime enforcement, the consequences are immediate. With money-laundering filings down 24%, Reuters’ sources describe agents and prosecutors losing bandwidth for tracing proceeds, seizing assets and building the multi-agency conspiracies that typically dismantle trafficking organizations.
Read more at Reuters