SANTA FE - Governor Susana Martinez announced today that her administration is entering the next phase of its Child Support Enforcement Bench Warrant Program. Earlier this year, Governor Martinez and the New Mexico Human Services Department (HSD) launched the program in Bernalillo, Sandoval, and Valencia Counties with the help and support of the New Mexico State Police and local law enforcement agencies. The expanded phase will encompass the rest of the state. All child support delinquents in New Mexico who have outstanding bench warrants will be posted online by HSD and given a one-week amnesty period from Monday, October 31 to Friday, November 4 . The program will be aided again by the New Mexico State Police as well as other law enforcement agencies around the state.

“This administration has made a commitment to standing up for New Mexico's children and ensuring that parents are upholding their responsibilities,” said Governor Martinez. “Following the successful launch of the bench warrant program in Central New Mexico, coupled with the success of law enforcement efforts to target delinquent non-custodial parents, I am proud to announce that this program will now run statewide. We must continue to send the message to delinquent parents that they must pay what they owe or face the consequences.”

The Human Services Department will post the information of all non-custodial parents who have outstanding bench warrants for their arrest due to their failure to pay their court-ordered child support. This information can be found online at http://www.hsd.state.nm.us/CSEDBenchWarrants.html.

Similar to the program's first phase, delinquent parents will be given a week-long amnesty period from Monday, October 31 to Friday, November 4 to pay outstanding child support payments. During this amnesty period, these individuals can come to HSD's Child Support Enforcement Division (CSED) offices, without fear of arrest, to settle their bench warrants and bring themselves into compliance with their court-ordered child support obligations. Persons having a warrant for their arrest are required to pay the full amount of the bond in order to have their outstanding warrant cancelled. CSED offices will accept cash, cashier's check, or money order as payment. CSED offices statewide can be found at http://www.hsd.state.nm.us/csed/fieldoffices.html.

The names of all non-custodial parents who do not resolve their bench warrants during this amnesty period will be submitted to law enforcement statewide. Law enforcement agencies will then conduct bench warrant round-ups to locate and take these individuals into custody.

Governor Susana Martinez announced the first phase of the Child Support Bench Warrant program in July of this year. A major part of the new program included publishing the names of hundreds of non-custodial parents in Bernalillo, Sandoval, and Valencia Counties who failed to comply with their court-ordered child support obligations.

A one week bench warrant amnesty period took place in July, resulting in 26% of all non-custodial parents on the list coming forward and clearing their warrants. In early September, a bench warrant roundup was conducted in Bernalillo, Sandoval, and Valencia Counties with 12 law enforcement agencies. These efforts resulted in the collection of nearly $50,000 for New Mexico children. An individual who is arrested on a child support bench warrant must pay the full bond amount in order to be released from custody. The amount of the bond is then forwarded to the family as a child support payment.

Individuals whose names appear on this list are encouraged to contact CSED to make arrangements to pay their bond amount and have their arrest warrants cancelled. The telephone number for CSED is: 800-288-7207 (in-state) and 800-585-7631 (outside of New Mexico).