New Mexico Attorney General Sues Child Welfare Agency Over Border Case

Raúl Torrez, the Attorney General of New Mexico, filed a civil lawsuit on July 28 against the state's Children, Youth and Families Department (CYFD). The lawsuit alleges the agency violated a 15-year-old U.S. citizen's constitutional due process rights by forcing him to cross the border into Mexico alone to reunite with an estranged mother who had been absent for nearly a decade.

According to the complaint, CYFD staff drove the teenager to El Paso, Texas, and instructed him to walk across the Bridge of the Americas. The teen initially failed to find his mother and attempted to flee back into the U.S., where he was placed in a Texas shelter. The lawsuit claims CYFD refused to retrieve him at that time, referring to the child as a "Texas problem," before eventually escorting him to Mexico on July 17. The complaint further alleges the agency ignored the boy's serious heart condition and disregarded his history of abuse by the mother, who has drug-related convictions.

CYFD and the Governor's Office defended the action, stating that judges and independent authorities in both New Mexico and Texas concluded the child should be with his mother. Agency spokesperson Jake Thompson asserted that the child is safe and the agency remained in contact with the mother. Torrez is now seeking a court order for the teen's repatriation and a temporary restraining order to prevent the removal of children from the U.S. without court approval.