The Line: Allegations Against HSD Officials

May 20, 2016 – Officials from the New Mexico Human Services Department were in court last week to testify on allegations that HSD supervisors told employees to falsify applications for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

On New Mexico In Focus this week, producer Sarah Gustavus sits down with Joey Peters, senior reporter for NM Political Report, to talk about the most recent hearing on the HSD case in Las Cruces. HSD employees pled the Fifth nearly 100 times in court.

“The practice, according to eight former and current HSD employees who testified in federal court last money and today, amounts to falsify assets to the application of people who would otherwise qualify for emergency aid,” says Peters. According to the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty, which is representing SNAP recipients in the case, individuals who qualify for emergency aid must have less than 100 dollars in income and less than 150 dollars in assets.

Late this week, state senator Jerry Ortiz y Pino called on Human Services Secretary Brent Earnest to resign. The Line opinion panel reacts to that news and the allegations

Do you think Secretary Earnest should resign? Let us know what you think in the comments below or share your thoughts on Facebook and Twitter.

Line Panelists:
Mark Boitano, former Republican state lawmaker
Martha Burk, political psychologist and author of “Your Voice, Your Vote”
Dan McKay, Albuquerque Journal staff writer
Alicia Manzano, Strategies 360