Lawmakers vow further exploration of CYFD reforms in interim before 2026 session

New Mexico lawmakers created a new child advocate position to oversee the troubled CYFD agency. (Dean Hanson/Albuquerque Journal)
New Mexico lawmakers said Tuesday they plan to investigate more reforms for the state's troubled child welfare agency in advance of next year's legislative session, pointing to the recent tragedy of a 16-year old foster child's suicide as a catalyst for further action.
The Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee convened at the Roundhouse for the first meeting of the interim, which included a presentation on recent reforms to the Children, Youth & Families Department lawmakers passed in the 2025 Legislative session. Specifically, House Bill 5 created an Office of the Child Advocate, which will be administratively attached to the state Department of Justice.
Tuesday's hearing also exposed continued tension over the management of CYFD. The troubled agency has faced increased scrutiny over rising costs of settlements for maltreatment and deaths of children in custody from years past, as well as the housing of children in offices, which have included incidents of injury from private security guards. New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez in April announced an investigation into the April death. In a recent interview with Source, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who has clashed with the AG over CYFD, said the agency intends to abide with the Legislature's reforms 'in a robust and cooperative manner.'
Sen. Joe Cervantes (D-Las Cruces), who co-chairs the interim committee with Rep. Christine Chandler (D-Los Alamos), said New Mexico was failing to protect children in state custody which he called 'our most important, sacred responsibility.'
'We're not saving lives, we have children who are dying on our watch,' he said Tuesday.
Cervantes alluded to Jaydun Garcia, the 16-year old who died by suicide in congregate care in April, but also mentioned a second case: 'I cannot go into detail, that we had another suicide: a young woman who was pregnant at the time in our state custody.'
CYFD spokesperson Jessica Preston said she could not corroborate Cervantes' statement.
'State and federal confidentiality laws strictly limit what the Children, Youth, and Families Department can confirm or disclose about individual cases. We are only authorized to release information when it is determined that abuse or neglect caused a child's death,' Preston said in a written statement. 'Accordingly, no information can be provided.'
CYFD was not invited to testify at today's meeting, both Cervantes and CYFD confirmed, with Preston noting that the agenda item related to the new office attached to the NMDOJ.
CYFD Cabinet Secretary Teresa Casados 'has said on many occasions that the Department welcomes oversight, and we look forward to collaborating with the new Office of Child Advocate to serve the children, youth, and families of New Mexico when it is up and running,' Preston wrote.
Lujan Grisham line-item vetoed $1 million earmarked for Office of the Child Advocate from the budget, but allowed both a $650,000 appropriation the New Mexico Department of Justice to set up the office and $300,000 for CYFD to hire additional staff to respond to inquiries from the advocate to remain in the budget.
Attorneys for NMDOJ said they would be able to stand up the office with the $650,000 appropriation, but would seek further funding in 2026.
'That sets us on a pretty good entry point,' said Billy Jimenez, the deputy attorney general for civil affairs at NMDOJ. 'From a purely administrative standpoint, we can provide staff to assist whether that's paralegals or clerical staff, HR staff. But I think, at the end of the day, we want to make sure that that office maintains… independence [and] their own paralegals and staff over time.'
Further decisions about staffing the office will be made once the child advocate is in the role Jimenez said.
The state is still in the process of appointing a statutorily required state child advocate selection committee, which is required by law to meet before Sept. 1 to consider recommendations for the state child advocate. Within 30 days of meeting, the committee is supposed to recommend a short list of candidates to the governor, who will make the appointment.

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Miami Herald

20 hours ago

• Miami Herald

Immigration raid at LA-area car wash sparks tense scene, hours of protests in Bell

LOS ANGELES - Protesters gathered in southeast Los Angeles County on Friday evening, facing off with masked men in fatigues after federal agents detained at least three people at a car wash in the city of Bell, according to witnesses, and visited another car wash in neighboring Maywood. The immigration action in Bell took place at Jack's Car Wash and Detailing, located in the 7000 block of Atlantic Avenue, just north of Florence Avenue. Security camera footage reviewed by The Times shows masked men wearing olive vests chasing a car wash employee, who was wearing a bright green uniform and cap. The video shows another employee - wearing a bright green cap, a white long-sleeved shirt and blue jeans - surrounded by the masked men, his hands restrained behind his back. The employee is tackled to the ground as customers and others gathered, with some taking out their phones to record videos. The man in the white-long sleeved shirt is a car wash worker who is a U.S. citizen, according to the employee's brother, Jesús Rafael Cervantes. He said his brother, who lives in Bell Gardens, wanted to defend a coworker - an action that, Cervantes said, prompted agents to detain his brother. "Just for defending someone, they came and knocked him down. As you can see in the videos, they came and knocked him down like that, just like that. And that's unfair, that they come and grab a person like that as if he were an animal or something," Cervantes told The Times. Protesters gathered to confront the agents in the area, which is about 6 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles. In one video shared with The Times, a protester sprays white paint on a silver SUV and a voice can be heard saying, "Get the ... out of here!" while others jeer. People can be seen hitting the vehicle. Officials with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not immediately return a request for comment. In a statement posted on social media, the agency said Border Patrol vehicles "were violently targeted during lawful operations" in Bell and Maywood. The Department of Homeland Security said one vehicle was rammed and had its tires slashed on Atlantic Boulevard. On Slauson Avenue, a civilian struck a federal vehicle, totaling it, according to the department. "The driver was arrested for suspicion of vehicular assault as a mob formed and slashed additional tires," the department said. The statement included photos showing silver vehicles with cracked or shattered windows. One silver SUV was shown with dented doors and scratched paint. "Federal law enforcement is facing an ever-escalating increase in assaults - but we will not be deterred," the department said. "If you assault a federal officer, you will be prosecuted." The statement did not indicate how many were detained on immigration-related matters. The protest in Bell, a city with a large Latino and Lebanese community, comes as the federal government continues its campaign in Los Angeles to find and capture undocumented immigrants. The actions have spurred backlash from local and state officials and have forced some residents into hiding. "We're not sure who these armed men are. They show up without uniforms. They show up completely masked. They refuse to give ID. They're driving regular cars with tinted windows and in some cases, out-of-state license plates. Who are these people?" Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said at a briefing Friday night. "If they're federal officials, why is it that they do not identify themselves?" Bass asked. Around Atlantic and Brompton avenues, crowds of people gathered, taking videos and looking at the agents - armed individuals wearing balaclavas, some carrying long weapons, wearing vests and camouflage pants. They stood in the street near a Baskin-Robbins ice cream shop. The crowd and agents were separated by yellow tape. One woman with a bullhorn hurled obscenities at the agents and President Donald Trump; others waved a Mexican flag and an upside-down U.S. flag, traditionally a symbol of protest or distress. "Losers!" another woman called out. "Go fight a real war!" Another shouted, "Shame on you!" Elsewhere, one of the armed people wore a U.S. flag on his vest, and some onlookers called out to them. "Are you a bounty hunter? How much is the bounty for an illegal right now?" someone on the street yelled. Cudahy Mayor Elizabeth Alcantar Loza was in Bell as the crowds gathered, and said the mood on Atlantic Avenue shifted when suddenly an unmarked silver SUV drove toward her and other people standing near her, angering the crowd. Some began to hit and throw objects at the SUV. A second unmarked vehicle attempted to do the same thing moments later, she said. "It felt like there was a point being made to incite violence," Alcantar Loza said. "People were peacefully protesting, and it became something completely different because of the vehicle that was trying to drive into the crowd." "We've seen it across the board, folks show up to an immigration activity and then violence is enacted upon them. Then they respond and we're shown as violent protesters - when in reality folks were calm, they were chanting, they were protesting. And they tried to run people over," she said. Just after 8 p.m., peaceful protesters waving Mexican and American flags gathered around Jack's Car Wash in Bell, as motorists honked their horns in support. "ICE out of everywhere!!!" one sign said. "Immigrants built this country," said another. There was another immigration action that appeared to focus on a car wash in Maywood on Friday, according to Maywood Councilman Eddie De La Riva. Ultimately, no one was taken from that business, he said. At one point, there was considerable commotion near the car wash. Video shared with The Times shows a minor collision between a blue BMW and a blue SUV with at least three agents inside, all wearing green vests. One of the passengers in the SUV opens his door in front of the slowly moving BMW, causing the BMW to hit the SUV's door. Agents detained the BMW's driver, who was later released, the councilman said, after onlookers shouted at the agents to let the driver go. By then, a crowd of protesters had formed. Fernando Botello, 39, was driving back to Maywood after picking up his girlfriend's 14-year-old son when he got an alert on his citizen app that people suspected to be immigration agents were spotted in the area. Moments later, he said, he learned that the agents were at an Xpress Wash at Slauson and Alamo avenues, just blocks from his home. When Botello got close to the intersection, he could see several vehicles were blocking the roadway. Unable to move, he got out of the car and watched the scene. He said the crowd started screaming to let the man go. He could hear people asking for the agents' badge numbers. After five minutes, he said, local police arrived. It was at that point, he said, the agents got in their vehicles and threw tear gas at a group standing on a corner near a park. A video taken by Botello shows an armed masked man standing from the ledge of an open door of a black SUV slowly driving along a street near Maywood's Riverfront Park. The video shows the agent throwing an object toward a crowd of people, and a loud bang can be heard as he gets back in the vehicle. Botello said the object was a flash bang grenade, and was tossed at people who were taking video. "They knew what they wanted to do," he said. As he recounted the situation, Botello paused, trying to hold back tears. "I was upset because the people were exercising their right. They weren't hitting the officers' vehicles, they weren't in the middle of the street," he said. "You're punishing people for standing up for their neighbors and yourself." "It feels surreal. I don't know how long this is going to last." Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.

Yahoo

a day ago

• Yahoo

Poll shows Trump's clash with courts puts Senate GOP on defense

New polling of likely voters in Senate battleground states has found President Trump's frequent clashes with federal courts are becoming a hot issue that could put Senate Republican candidates on the defensive in 2026. A poll of 1,000 likely voters in 2026 Senate battlegrounds, obtained exclusively by The Hill, found that 53 percent disapprove of Trump's handling of the courts, including 89 percent of Democrats, 55 percent of independents and 39 percent of self-identified non-MAGA Republicans. The poll was conducted by Global Strategy Group, a Democratic-aligned polling firm, on behalf of Demand Justice, a Democratic-aligned judicial advocacy group. The survey found that more than two-thirds of voters, 72 percent, said they are concerned about Trump's response to court orders and 48 percent said they were extremely concerned by what they saw as the president's refusal to obey court orders. The poll found that 68 percent of voters surveyed said they viewed congressional Republicans as helping Trump evade legal norms, and 44 percent said they viewed that dynamic as extremely concerning. It surveyed voters in Colorado, Georgia, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Ohio and Texas. The Senate's two most vulnerable Republican incumbents are Sens. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), and Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) is the chamber's most vulnerable Democrat. 'The data is clear: Americans increasingly reject Donald Trump's attacks on the rule of law and the courts. Over two-thirds are concerned about this blatant disregard for court orders and the threat that it poses to the rights of every person in this country,' said Maggie Jo Buchanan, the interim executive director of Demand Justice. 'When Trump treats judicial rulings as mere suggestions instead of legally binding obligations, it sends a chilling message that our legal protections are meaningless,' Buchanan added. 'An overwhelming majority of Americans across the political spectrum are concerned that this calculated defiance sets a precedent where individuals may face unfair trials, see their rights disregarded without consequence, and find themselves powerless to seek justice,' she added. U.S. District Judge for the District of Columbia James Boasberg criticized the Trump administration earlier this year for disregarding his order to stop the deportation of alleged Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador. The administration argued the deportation flights had already departed the United States at the time Boasberg issued his order and asserted they later complied with a written order. The Trump White House has also come under criticism for barring a reporter and photographer from The Associated Press from the Oval Office in April despite a court order from U.S. District Judge for the District of Columbia Trevor McFadden ruling the government could not retaliate against the news agency for refusing to follow Trump's order renaming the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. The poll also found 70 percent of voters that Trump's allies in Congress will help him pick judges who will do what he wants instead of acting independently, with 43 percent of respondents saying they're 'extremely' concerned. The poll's sample included 44 percent of self-identified Democrats, 44 percent of self-identified Republicans and 12 percent of self-identified independents. It was conducted between May 28 and June 1 and had a margin of error of 3.1 percent. Updated at 8:43 a.m. EDT Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Los Angeles Times

2 days ago

• Los Angeles Times

Protesters gather after immigration raid targets car wash in L.A. County

Protesters gathered in southeast Los Angeles County Friday evening, facing off with masked men in fatigues after federal agents detained at least three people at a car wash in the city of Bell, according to witnesses, and visited another car wash in neighboring Maywood. The immigration action in Bell took place at Jack's Car Wash and Detailing, located in the 7000 block of Atlantic Avenue, just north of Florence Avenue. Security camera footage reviewed by The Times shows masked men wearing olive vests chasing a car wash employee, who was wearing a bright green uniform and cap. The video shows another employee — wearing a bright green cap, a white long-sleeved shirt and blue jeans — surrounded by the masked men, his hands restrained behind his back. The employee is tackled to the ground as customers and others gathered, with some taking out their phones to record videos. The man in the white-long sleeved shirt is a car wash worker who is a U.S. citizen, according to the employee's brother, Jesús Rafael Cervantes. He said his brother, who lives in Bell Gardens, wanted to defend a coworker— an action that, Cervantes said, prompted agents to detain his brother. 'Just for defending someone, they came and knocked him down. As you can see in the videos, they came and knocked him down like that, just like that. And that's unfair, that they come and grab a person like that as if he were an animal or something,' Cervantes told The Times. Protesters gathered to confront the agents in the area, which is about 6 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles. In one video shared with The Times, a protester sprays white paint on a silver SUV and a voice can be heard saying, 'Get the ... out of here!' while others jeer. People can be seen hitting the vehicle. Officials with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not immediately return a request for comment. In a statement posted on social media, the agency said Border Patrol vehicles 'were violently targeted during lawful operations' in Bell and neighboring Maywood. The Department of Homeland Security said one vehicle was rammed and had its tires slashed on Atlantic Boulevard. On Slauson Avenue, a civilian struck a federal vehicle, totaling it, according to the department. The statement included photos showing silver vehicles with cracked or shattered windows. One silver SUV was shown with dented doors and scratched paint. 'The driver was arrested for suspicion of vehicular assault as a mob formed and slashed additional tires,' the department said. 'Federal law enforcement is facing an ever-escalating increase in assaults—but we will not be deterred,' the department said. 'If you assault a federal officer, you will be prosecuted.' The statement did not indicate how many were detained on immigration-related matters. The protest in Bell, a city with a large Latino and Lebanese community, comes as the federal government continues its campaign in Los Angeles to find and capture undocumented immigrants. The actions have spurred backlash from local and state officials and have forced some residents into hiding. 'We're not sure who these armed men are. They show up without uniforms. They show up completely masked. They refuse to give ID. They're driving regular cars with tinted windows and in some cases, out of state license plates. Who are these people?' Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said at a briefing Friday night. 'If they're federal officials, why is it that they do not identify themselves?' Bass asked. Around Atlantic and Brompton avenues, crowds of people gathered, taking videos and looking at the agents — armed individuals wearing balaclavas, some carrying long weapons, wearing vests and camoflauge pants. They stood in the street near a Baskin-Robbins ice cream shop. The crowd and agents were separated by yellow tape. One woman with a bullhorn hurled obscenities at the agents and President Trump; others waved a Mexican flag and an upside-down U.S. flag, traditionally a symbol of protest or distress. 'Losers!' another woman called out. 'Go fight a real war!' Another shouted, 'Shame on you!' Elsewhere, one of the armed people wore a U.S. flag on his vest, and some onlookers called out to them. 'Are you a bounty hunter? How much is the bounty for an illegal right now?' someone on the street yelled. Cudahy Mayor Elizabeth Alcantar Loza was in Bell as the crowds gathered, and said the mood on Atlantic Avenue shifted when suddenly an unmarked silver SUV drove toward her and other people standing near her, angering the crowd. Some began to hit and throw objects at the SUV. A second unmarked vehicle attempted to do the same thing moments later, she said. 'It felt like there was a point being made to incite violence,' Alcantar Loza said. 'People were peacefully protesting, and it became something completely different because of the vehicle that was trying to drive into the crowd.' 'We've seen it across the board, folks show up to an immigration activity and then violence is enacted upon them. Then they respond and we're shown as violent protesters—when in reality folks were calm, they were chanting, they were protesting. And they tried to run people over,' she said. Just after 8 p.m., peaceful protesters waving Mexican and American flags gathered around Jack's Car Wash in Bell, as motorists honked their horns in support. 'ICE out of everywhere!!!' one sign said. 'Immigrants built this country,' said another. There was another immigration action that appeared to focus on a car wash in Maywood on Friday, according to Maywood Councilman Eddie De La Riva. Ultimately no one was taken from that business, he said. At one point, there was considerable commotion near the car wash. Video shared with The Times shows a minor collision between a blue BMW and a blue SUV with at least three agents inside, all wearing green vests. One of the passengers in the SUV opens his door in front of the slowly moving BMW, causing the BMW to hit the SUV's door. Agents detained the BMW's driver, who was later released, the councilman said, after onlookers shouted at the agents to let the driver go. By then, a crowd of protesters had formed. Fernando Botello, 39, was driving back to Maywood after picking up his girlfriend's 14-year-old son when he got an alert on his citizen app that people suspected to be immigration agents were spotted in the area. Moments later, he said, he learned that the agents were at an Xpress Wash at Slauson and Alamo avenues, just blocks from his home. When Botello got close to the intersection, he could see several vehicles were blocking the roadway. Unable to move, he got out of the car and watched the scene. He said the crowd started screaming to let the man go. He could hear people asking for the agents' badge numbers. After five minutes, he said, local police arrived. It was at that point, he said, the agents got in their vehicles and threw tear gas at a group standing on a corner near a park. A video taken by Botello shows an armed masked man standing from the ledge of an open door of a black SUV slowly driving along a street near Maywood's Riverfront Park. The video shows the agent throwing an object toward a crowd of people, and a loud bang can be heard as he gets back in the vehicle. Botello said the object was a flash bang grenade, and was tossed at people who were taking video. 'They knew what they wanted to do,' he said. As he recounted the situation, Botello paused, trying to hold back tears. 'I was upset because the people were exercising their right. They weren't hitting the officers' vehicles, they weren't in the middle of the street,' he said. 'You're punishing people for standing up for their neighbors and yourself.' 'It feels surreal. I don't know how long this is going to last.'