Albuquerque, NM (KKOB) — The New Mexico Department of Justice has filed a civil lawsuit against the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department. The suit coming on the heels after the agency dropped a 15-year-old in their care off at the U.S.-Mexico border, expecting him to cross into an unknown country alone, to an abusive mother he rarely saw. The lawsuit claims that when the child attempted to return to the United States, CYFD asked federal authorities to deny him entry, then refused to retrieve him after he was taken into the care of Texas authorities. Ultimately, Texas child welfare officials brought the child to Mexico after CYFD declined to resume custody. The department has said that it was in the best interests of the child, lawfully and with court approval, to unite him with his mother in Mexico, and that, after a virtual home visit, the state determined he would be safe there. CYFD also admitted that the teen was resistant to this plan.
