Attorney General Raúl Torrez

By ESTEBAN CANDELARIA and DANIEL J. CHACÓN
The Santa Fe New Mexican

As Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed a bill Friday to create a new oversight office within the New Mexico Department of Justice to look into problems at the state’s troubled child welfare agency, she blasted Attorney General Raúl Torrez and the Legislature over the measure.

Throughout the session, the Lujan Grisham administration expressed concerns about the proposed Office of Child Advocate, arguing the oversight of the Children, Youth and Families Department was welcome but that House Bill 5 was not the way to tackle the issue.

In a blistering message Friday notifying lawmakers she had signed the bill into law, the governor referred to the original draft as “weaponized for the Attorney General and the legislature to intimidate CYFD and its staff.”

“Make no mistake about it, this bill was not designed to protect children,” she wrote. “It was a thinly-disguised vendetta by a legislature that is still upset at my continuing pursuits of meaningful criminal justice legislation in New Mexico and an Attorney General who has failed to demonstrate that public safety is a priority in any meaningful way.”

A spokesperson for Torrez fired back.

“While we are encouraged by HB5 becoming law, we are deeply disappointed that the Governor chose to center the discussion around herself and her inner circle,” Lauren Rodriguez said in a statement. “The focus of this bill should have remained squarely on the children who suffer from neglect, abuse, and systemic failures. Nowhere in the Governor’s statement is there acknowledgment of their struggles or the urgent need for reform. I believe leadership means prioritizing the people we serve, not engaging in personal grievances.”

Camille Ward, a spokesperson for House Democrats, also responded to the governor’s words, saying the new office would be “singularly focused on improving the well-being of our children and families.”

“This legislation is the result of years of bipartisan work in the House of Representatives to prevent child abuse, neglect, and harm and give kids a stronger voice in the systems that are designed to protect them,” Ward wrote in an email. “We are grateful to see this important bill signed into law.”

Lawmakers have attempted to get an Office of Child Advocate on the books for years, but a similar measure failed in 2023. This year, lawmakers agreed — in consultation with the governor — to strip the office of its subpoena power and authority to determine whether the department or a department employee had violated a child’s federal or state constitutional rights.

Lawmakers described the move as a way to get HB 5 signed by Lujan Grisham.

Sara Crecca, an attorney who represents abused and neglected children, said the office was a large step forward in bringing accountability for children, even without subpoena power. She said foster families she interacts with have been expectantly waiting for the bill to be signed into law.

“My clients and the families that reach out to me are ecstatic to have somebody to go to, who can advise them of their rights under the law, who can hear their individual constituent complaints,” Crecca said.

She also criticized the political sniping over the bill, saying “when the adults in power are more focused on each other than the children, the children lose.”

Lujan Grisham wrote in her executive message on HB 5 she was “deeply disturbed by the legislature’s gleeful condemnation of CYFD,” accusing lawmakers of making personal attacks on CYFD Cabinet Secretary Teresa Casados and agency workers without offering “any type of actual solution”.

“Many members of this legislature care more about posturing and grandstanding at the expense of hardworking state employees than it does about actually helping New Mexico’s most vulnerable children,” she wrote.

This year, lawmakers filed 93 bills related to children and families.

Casados has expressed concerns HB 5 would create a conflict of interest if the office found issues at CYFD that led to lawsuits, noting the Department of Justice can represent state agencies in litigation.

Supporters of the bill, however, said the Department of Justice already has a system in place for hiring outside counsel to represent agencies.

Still, Lujan Grisham reiterated concerns about friendly fire by Torrez.

“I find it disturbing that the individual who refers to himself as ‘the chief legal counsel and advisor to the executive branch of state government including all executive departments’ literally lobbied for authority to bring legal action against the very people he purports to be ‘counsel and advisor to’,” Lujan Grisham wrote.

She added, “It is disappointing that the ‘chief legal authority for the state of New Mexico’ spent the 2025 legislative session trying to curry favor with the legislature by offering to sue overworked and underpaid employees rather than participating in conversations about meaningful public safety measures and child welfare policies at CYFD.”