Trump's DOJ extends term for New Mexico's top federal prosecutor

With his interim appointment expiring, Ryan Ellison has a new title — acting U.S. attorney for New Mexico.

The action by the Trump administration gives Ellison at least another 210 days to head the prosecutor’s office, which handles civil litigation, prosecutes federal criminal offenses and immigration cases.

The U.S. Department of Justice also avoided a potential confrontation with New Mexico’s federal judiciary, which by law could have installed its own appointee.

Ellison, who wasn’t available for comment on Friday, said in a statement that he was honored to have President Trump’s and Attorney General Pam Bondi’s “confidence to continue serving as New Mexico’s top federal prosecutor. I applaud New Mexico’s federal district judge for declining to appoint someone other than the Trump Administration’s choice.”

Yet New Mexico’s two Democratic U.S. senators on Friday objected to the way Ellison, a criminal prosecutor in the office under Biden-appointee Alexander Uballez, got the seven-month extension.

“Today, President Trump and his Department of Justice bypassed the Senate to extend the term of their pick for federal prosecutor,” they said in a statement Friday. “While we are committed to reviewing his application and credentials, we are extremely concerned by this administration’s continuing willingness to trample the role of the Judiciary and Congress.”

Ellison is among a group of at least five top federal prosecutors who have been named “acting” U.S. attorneys after their interim appointments by Bondi expired. He was named “interim” attorney by Bondi on April 17.

Typically, an incoming president submits his or her choice for U.S. attorney to the U.S. Senate for confirmation to a four-year term and an interim appointee serves until then.

But Ellison didn’t submit his application for consideration to the U.S. attorney position to the offices of New Mexico’s U.S. Sens. Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján until Aug. 7, according to a Heinrich spokesperson. That came after “substantial prodding” by the senators’ staff, the spokesperson added.

Meanwhile, Ellison’s 120-day initial appointment as interim U.S. attorney was due to expire in the coming days. Under federal law, if a U.S. attorney interim appointment expires, the federal district court may appoint a United States attorney to serve until the vacancy is filled.

New Mexico’s U.S. District Court judges declined to “exercise the authority granted” to appoint a U.S. attorney, according to a statement on the court’s website issued Thursday. There was no further comment.

Ellison said in his statement that the appointment of a U.S. attorney is a “process that should be sorted out in a collaborative and professional manner between the executive and legislative branches of government. I’m confident that process will eventually play out here and across the country.”

Meanwhile, according to his statement, he planned to continue addressing “New Mexico’s systemic crime problem.”

“In a few short months, I have shifted the U.S. Attorney’s office back into high gear to keep New Mexicans safe,” he stated, noting that violent crime and firearms prosecutions are up 23% compared with the four months prior to his appointment. Drug prosecutions are up 53%, and immigration-related crimes have increased 180%, he added.

During his past four months as interim U.S. attorney, Ellison’s office harshly criticized the chief U.S. magistrate in Las Cruces after he dismissed as legally flawed more than 100 misdemeanor charges federal prosecutors filed as part of a new “national defense area” Trump officials created along the U.S. border.

Ellison, a native of Alamogordo, graduated from the University of Arizona with a business degree in 2010. He earned his Juris Doctor and MBA from Texas Tech University in 2013. He became an assistant U.S. attorney in the Las Cruces branch office in 2018, and was supervisory assistant U.S. attorney of the violent and general crimes section when he was appointed by Trump in April.

Heinrich and Lujan’s statement said they were committed to reviewing Ellison’s application and credentials when his nomination comes before the Senate, “so that we can do our best to ensure fair, impartial and independent federal prosecutions in New Mexico. We cannot simply look the other way while President Trump pretends to care about the Rule of Law while obliterating it at every turn.”