U.S. Attorney for New Mexico resigns at Trump's request

The top federal prosecutor leading the ongoing investigation into a sprawling public corruption scheme involving the dismissal of hundreds of DWI cases in New Mexico has been terminated.

U.S. Attorney for New Mexico, Alexander Uballez, said he received notice of his firing by the Trump administration in his personal email account Monday afternoon. That came after he was stripped of his government cellphone and computer access last Friday without prior notice or explanation. He is among more than 20 other holdovers who were asked to step down as U.S. Attorneys.

His removal by the Trump administration wasn’t a surprise, given the fact that U.S. Attorneys are political appointees. As a longtime state and federal prosecutor, he was appointed by President Joe Biden in 2022. Uballez’s firing comes amidst a sweeping purge by President Donald Trump of the Justice Department, including anyone who worked on former U.S. special counsel Jack Smith’s investigations into the president, as well as dozens of other political appointees, and career attorneys.

“Today, I say farewell to a Department that I love,” Uballez said in a statement. “Together we have made our community safer by delivering swift and certain justice to the most prolific violent offenders, human and drug traffickers, and child abusers. We have saved lives by intervening to prevent violence and by supporting those who strive to return to our community from incarceration.”

“Most importantly,” Uballez stated, “We fought to build a community united in the pursuit of justice for all by choosing prevention before punishment, delivering consequences but not indignity, and seeking redemption not isolation.”

In a statement Monday, Raul Bujanda, FBI Special Agent in Charge of the Albuquerque field office, praised Uballez as an “incredible partner in our mission to protect the American public. There is no doubt his work has made a positive impact on our community.”

In New Mexico, the U.S. Attorney’s office oversees immigration enforcement and prosecutes certain crimes aimed at reducing violent crime and protecting Native American communities.

But about 16 months after he was confirmed by the Senate in May 2022, Uballez opened an inquiry into one of the largest public corruption schemes to hit New Mexico. The evidence later showed, the criminal operation eluded detection for nearly 30 years.

The massive FBI investigation initially focused on allegations that officers with the Albuquerque Police Department’s DWI unit were intentionally missing court and withholding evidence. The officers were working with Albuquerque lawyer Thomas Clear to get his clients’ charges thrown out. In return, according to guilty pleas received so far, the officers received cash, gifts and even a set of tires.

As the inquiry progressed, the allegations of wrongdoing spread to DWI officers with the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department and the New Mexico State Police. Prosecutors’ court filings also mention at least one other DWI attorney involved in the scheme, which dated back to the mid-1990s.

At Uballez’s urging, the Bernalillo County District Attorney’s office in January 2024 eventually dismissed more than 200 pending DWI cases involving the officers because their credibility might be at issue. There’s been no estimate as to how many DWI suspects’ cases were dismissed or never filed as a result of the scheme dubbed the “DWI Enterprise” by federal prosecutors.

So far, Clear, his law firm’s investigator, and three former APD officers have pleaded guilty to bribery and racketeering charges, with Uballez just last week declaring the investigation would continue.

“....We are not done digging,” he said at the time, and in an apparent message to others not yet indicted, Uballez added, “Now is the time to come clean — if you were ever involved in this deceit, now is the time to come to the table.”

Uballez said his departure shouldn’t affect the ongoing prosecution of additional law enforcement officers and others involved in what has been dubbed the “DWI Enterprise.” In a Journal interview, he noted that his office’s career staff is not changing. His first assistant U.S. attorney Holland Kastrin is now serving as acting U.S. Attorney. There was no word on who the Trump administration will nominate as the next U.S. Attorney for New Mexico.