U.S. AG discuses fentanyl, violent crime in closed-door meeting in Boise

BOISE — The nation’s top lawyers visited Idaho briefly to discuss strategies for combating fentanyl and other crimes with local and federal law enforcement.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, who is a Boise native, sat down Tuesday at U.S. Attorney for Idaho Josh Hurwit’s office. Garland gave brief remarks to the media present and then the members of the press were escorted out of the room before the closed-door meeting.

“This group represents the law enforcement agencies whose members every single day risk their lives to protect the people of the state, and equally important, they represent a collaborative partnership that is at the heart of the Justice Department’s own strategy for dealing with violent crime,” Garland said.

He highlighted a recently released report by Idaho State Police that found murders in the state declined by 15% in 2023 compared to 2022. There were 49 homicides in Idaho in 2022, according to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and notably, that year there were four University of Idaho students murdered in a home in Moscow. Garland said nationally, the murder rate has declined, and last year’s violent crime rate was the lowest in 50 years and marked the largest decline in homicides in 50 years.

Fentanyl was a major focus of the meeting, according to those present who spoke to the Idaho Press afterward. Idaho experienced 188 reported deaths related to fentanyl overdose in 2022, according to the most recent data from the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.

Nampa Police Department Chief Joe Huff said several of those present Tuesday expressed concern with the country’s southern border and the influx of drugs, especially fentanyl from Mexico.

Ada County Sheriff Matt Clifford also highlighted the fentanyl issue in Idaho and across the nation. The attorney general kept officers apprised of efforts to work with China and Mexico’s governments to stem the flow of the precursor chemicals and the illicit opioid.

“(Garland) agreed with our concerns with the border, our concerns with the cartels and how Mexico manages/doesn’t manage those cartels,” Clifford said. “So that was positive to see him recognize that even here in Idaho, far away from Mexico, we have problems, in the form of fentanyl especially, that are plaguing our communities.”

Garland asked about how the partnerships between federal and local offices could be improved, but both Huff and Clifford said there’s already strong partnerships.

“The cooperation from Josh Hurwit’s office has been pretty amazing,” Clifford said. “I’ve never seen it like this before. We’ve always had good U.S. attorneys here in the state but, U.S. Attorney Josh Hurwit kind of takes it on a next level.”

Clifford said that Hurwit’s office proactively established relationships with local law enforcement outside of specific cases.

Huff echoed much of this.

“I told (Garland) we have a great relationship with the Idaho U.S. attorney’s office,” Huff said.

Hurwit also agreed that partnerships among offices in Idaho were strong.

“I’m really proud to tell you and the public that that’s not just lip service, that we live in that ethos of collaboration every day, and I think that serves Idaho well,” he said.

Hurwit said that the meeting helped emphasize that while Idaho is “far away from the decision makers” in Washington, D.C., it was important to remind them that more resources need to be sent to rural areas.

Clifford said the federal partners on crime could use more resources, especially more personnel, from the U.S, government and told Garland that they’d like to see more grants for fentanyl and other criminal interdiction.

The meeting lasted about an hour, the men said.

It’s not exactly common for the U.S. attorney general to visit Idaho.

Hurwit was sworn in as the U.S. attorney for Idaho after being nominated by President Joe Biden in 2022, but he’s worked in the office since 2012. Hurwit said he remembered getting a visit from former Attorney General Eric Holder, who served from 2009-15.

Garland this week is also expected to visit U.S. attorneys’ offices for the districts of New Mexico, Wyoming, South Dakota and Kansas, according to a spokesperson for his office. Garland was sworn into his position in 2021 and previously served as a judge in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He’d been nominated for the Supreme Court by then-President Barack Obama in 2016, but was never confirmed because Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blocked a vote, declaring the choice would be made by the next president.

Both Huff and Clifford said that while the meeting was relatively short, they left with positive impressions; both of them used the phrase “pleasantly surprised” to describe their experience.

“You never know,” Huff said. “I’ve never met somebody that high up in the government, and quite honestly, I was impressed with how down-to-earth the attorney general was, as far as just taking the time out of his schedule to hear from the local officers.”

Guido covers Idaho politics for the Lewiston Tribune, Moscow-Pullman Daily News and Idaho Press of Nampa. She may be contacted at lguido@idahopress.com and can be found on Twitter @EyeOnBoiseGuido.