The New Mexico Department of Justice — already a plaintiff in several multistate lawsuits pushing back against actions by the Trump administration — has created a webpage offering New Mexico residents a place to report what it calls “federal disruptions” impacting their lives.
The page — nmdoj.gov/get-help/federal-disruptions/ — now consists primarily of a form that provides individuals and organizations with an avenue for reporting problems related to issues such as federal funding freezes, layoffs, Social Security and other federal benefits.
As information is collected, the page “will grow to also house real-time tracking information including issues from across the state,” the agency said in a statement Tuesday.
“New Mexicans deserve to know when disruptions in Washington, D.C., might affect their wallets, their jobs, or their benefits,” Attorney General Raúl Torrez says in the statement.
“We created this page to make sure people have timely, reliable information and know where to turn for help when they need it most,” Torrez added.
Asked to point to examples of the kinds of disruptions that prompted the creation of the webpage, department spokesperson Chelsea Pitvorec wrote in an email: “The Trump administration’s unprecedented assault on federal agencies and programs is disrupting everything from healthcare and education to veteran’s benefits and emergency preparedness.”
She added, “We are also increasingly concerned about the impact that reduced staffing levels are having within the Social Security Administration and early reports about long lines, broken systems and rising frustration among citizens who cannot access benefits that they are entitled to under federal law.”
Pitvorec said information gathered by the agency will be used to support ongoing litigation and “provide our citizens with a comprehensive view of the real-world impact that these cuts are having in communities across New Mexico.”
On Tuesday, the page included information about lawsuits filed by coalitions of states, including New Mexico, challenging President Donald Trump’s actions, as well as updates on recent rulings in those cases.
These include lawsuits challenging:
* The delegation of executive power to Elon Musk.
* Funding cuts for medical and public health research.
* The freezing of federal funds to programs administered by the states.
* Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship.
Pitvorec didn’t respond to questions asking whether the attorney general anticipates the lawsuits will be successful in forcing the president to reverse some of his orders, or whether the lawsuits will be resolved quickly enough to provide relief to affected New Mexicans.