Whitehouse, Blumenthal Introduce Bicameral Bill to Restore Trump-Shuttered DOJ Transnational Crime Unit to Crack Down on Fentanyl

AG Bondi shuttered DOJ's Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces last year

Washington, DC - U.S. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) today introduced the Protect Law Enforcement Task Forces Act, legislation to restore the Department of Justice's shuttered Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) program. DOJ's OCDETF program helped arrest fentanyl traffickers, seize hundreds of tons of narcotics, and confiscate billions in dirty money. Representative Joe Morelle (D-NY) first introduced this legislation in the House of Representatives in November 2025.

"The OCDETF program was a key tool America deployed in the 'clash of civilizations' between American rule of law and international corruption. The Trump Department of Justice's decision to shutter this successful crime-fighting program was a gift to cartels and fentanyl traffickers," said Whitehouse.

"This bill would reverse the Trump Administration's reckless, dangerous decision to dismantle a proven program designed to disable organized crime. By restoring the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force program, this legislation would reinstate a unique, prosecutor-led task force that has taken down crime lords, drug trafficking networks, and money laundering rings," said Senator Blumenthal.

"Shutting down OCDETF isn't just reckless, it undermines the very public safety principles our government is supposed to uphold," said Congressman Joe Morelle. "OCDETF is a proven initiative that continues to help reduce crime in cities across the country, including my hometown of Rochester, New York. I'm proud to join Senators Whitehouse and Blumenthal in introducing legislation to protect OCDETF and ensure it can continue doing this critical work for years to come."

Established in 1982, OCDETF served as the centerpiece of the U.S. Department of Justice's strategy to combat transnational organized crime and reduce the availability of illicit narcotics nationwide. OCDETF oversaw coordination of thousands of federal, state, and local law enforcement officials to implement a national strategy to dismantle transnational drug cartels, the financial networks that support them, and the flow of drugs from these cartels into the United States.

The OCDETF program was the largest anti-crime task force in the country. Despite bipartisan objections from Congress, the Trump Department of Justice disbanded the program in 2025.

In June 2025, Whitehouse, Blumenthal and Senators Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Dick Durbin (D-IL), and Chris Coons (D-DE) sent a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi questioning the Department of Justice's plan to end the successful OCDETF program.

Many OCDETF investigations targeted the cartels' financial networks, an often-overlooked component of the U.S. strategy to combat drug-trafficking organizations. OCDETF was one of the best returns on investment in federal law enforcement, bringing in $524 million and $423 million in Fiscal Years 2022 and 2023.

Whitehouse has led bipartisan efforts in the Senate to crack down on drug trafficking and dirty money, while expanding addiction prevention, treatment, and recovery services. As Chair of the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control, Whitehouse held hearings to examine: the role of the federal government in attacking the financial networks of cartels; corruption associated with the illicit drug trade; the techniques that drug cartels use to procure and finance precursor chemicals that are used to manufacture illicit synthetic drugs; how drug cartels have modernized, and how Chinese money laundering networks help fentanyl traffickers.

The full text of the bill is available here.

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