New Mexico Sues Foster Care Agency Over Teen Forced Across Border

The New Mexico attorney general has filed a lawsuit against the state’s foster care system, alleging that staff forced a 15-year-old American citizen to cross the U.S.-Mexico border alone, leaving him stranded and vulnerable. The case, which has drawn scrutiny over broader failures in child welfare practices, centers on the treatment of a teenager whose mother, a Mexican national, had been deported earlier this year.

The lawsuit, filed by Attorney General Raúl Torrez on July 28, claims that staff from the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department (CYFD) drove the minor to El Paso, Texas, on July 6 and instructed him to cross the border bridge without an adult. The complaint states the boy, who has a heart condition requiring daily medication, was left to find his mother, who had been arrested on drug-related charges and deported. After crossing into Mexico, the boy reportedly ran back across traffic and reentered the U.S., where U.S. Customs and Border Protection urged CYFD to retrieve him. The complaint alleges staff refused, calling the child a “Texas problem” before leaving him at the border.

According to the lawsuit, the teenager was later placed under the care of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. Despite efforts to contact New Mexico officials, Texas authorities eventually returned him to his mother in Mexico, according to the complaint. Torrez’s office has requested a temporary restraining order to block future cross-border reunifications without court approval, calling the incident part of a “broader pattern of neglect” in the state’s foster care system.

CYFD defended its actions, stating that the child’s mother had requested the reunification and that staff conducted two virtual home visits to assess the situation. A spokesperson for the agency, Jake Thompson, said the child’s safety was never at risk and that the mother had been in frequent contact with CYFD. The agency also highlighted its Office of Advocacy, which includes immigration specialists tasked with helping children reunite with family members abroad.

The case has reignited debates over the state’s foster care practices. A 200-page report released by the New Mexico Department of Justice in April detailed systemic failures, including children being returned to dangerous environments. The lawsuit also comes amid federal efforts by the Trump administration to deport immigrant children by accessing data from the Office of Refugee Resettlement, a move that has faced legal challenges.

The child’s parents are both Mexican nationals, but the boy had been living with his siblings and a godmother in New Mexico. The complaint alleges that the godmother attempted to send him to Mexico earlier this summer, but he fled and ended up in a hospital near the border. When discharged in June, the hospital refused to release him to his godmother, who was not the legal guardian, and instead contacted CYFD. The boy was placed in foster care, according to the complaint.

CYFD stated that the boy’s siblings had since relocated with their godparents across the border, where they now live with their mother. The agency also noted that the child’s godparents had petitioned to end their informal guardianship in June, leaving him without a legal guardian in the U.S. Despite this, the complaint alleges that CYFD failed to conduct proper risk assessments of the mother’s living conditions and did not ensure the child’s medical needs were met after the reunification.

The case has drawn attention from the Office of the Child Advocate, an independent watchdog that monitors the child welfare system. After the border incident, the office referred the matter to the New Mexico Department of Justice. A spokesperson for New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s office said state and Texas authorities, along with a New Mexico judge, had independently determined the child should remain with his mother. However, the attorney general’s office has since requested the child’s return to New Mexico, though the lawsuit does not specify where he would live or who would care for him.

The dispute highlights tensions between child welfare policies and immigration enforcement. Cristen Conley, director at the Corinne Wolfe Center for Child and Family Justice at the University of New Mexico, noted that New Mexico law does not prohibit reuniting children with parents in other countries, provided it is done safely. However, the lawsuit argues that the process in this case violated the child’s rights and safety.