Key facts
- New Mexico AG Raúl Torrez filed a lawsuit against the state's Children, Youth and Families Department (CYFD).
- The suit alleges CYFD staff forced a 15-year-old U.S. citizen to cross the border into Mexico to reunite with his deported mother.
- The teen has a heart condition requiring daily medication.
- The AG seeks a temporary restraining order to prevent future child removals from the U.S. without court approval.
- CYFD denies the child's safety was ever at risk and states his mother requested reunification.
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez has filed a civil lawsuit against the state's Children, Youth and Families Department (CYFD), alleging that agency staff drove a 15-year-old U.S. citizen to El Paso, Texas, on July 6 and instructed him to cross the border alone to reunite with his mother, a Mexican national who had been deported earlier this year.
The complaint, filed on July 28, states that the youth crossed into Mexico, was unable to immediately find his mother, and then ran back across traffic to re-enter the U.S. U.S. Customs and Border Protection reportedly urged CYFD to bring the child back to New Mexico, but agency staff allegedly refused, calling him a "Texas problem" before leaving him at the border.
After the incident, the teenager was placed with the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. Despite attempts by Texas officials to communicate with CYFD, the child was reportedly returned to his mother in Mexico weeks later. The attorney general's office is also seeking a temporary restraining order to prevent future child removals from the U.S. without court approval.
Torrez stated that the case highlights a broader pattern of neglect within the state's foster care system and demanded CYFD take action to repatriate the teenager, who he said remains in Mexico with his mother. The lawsuit also alleges that CYFD did not conduct proper risk assessments of the mother and failed to ensure continued medical care for the child, who has a heart condition requiring daily medication.
CYFD, in a statement, denied that the child's safety was ever at risk, asserting that his mother had requested his reunification and that two virtual home visits concluded the situation was safe. The agency also noted that New Mexico law does not prohibit reuniting a child with a parent in another country if done safely. The child's godparents, who had informal guardianship, had petitioned to end it in June, leaving him without a legal guardian in the U.S. His siblings have since relocated across the border to live with their mother.