Former Doña Ana County Magistrate Judge Joel Cano and his wife, Nancy Cano, were taken into custody Thursday following a federal raid on their home in Las Cruces.
The couple is facing charges of evidence tampering in connection with allegations that they harbored Cristhian Ortega-Lopez, an alleged undocumented immigrant believed to be affiliated with Venezuela’s notorious Tren de Aragua gang, Fox News reported.
“Under President Trump, we have arrested over 150,000 aliens—including more than 600 members of the vicious Tren de Aragua gang,” said Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem. “If you are here illegally and break the law, we will hunt you down, arrest you and lock you up. That’s a promise.”
The arrest stems from a February incident in which Ortega-Lopez was taken into custody at the Cano residence. According to court documents, Nancy Cano initially hired him to perform home repairs and later allowed him to stay in the couple’s guesthouse.
Investigators discovered evidence connecting Ortega-Lopez to the Tren de Aragua gang, including gang-affiliated clothing, tattoos, voicemails, and text messages. Court documents state that he unlawfully entered the United States on December 15, 2023, by crossing the border near Eagle Pass, Texas, without inspection or authorization, Fox noted.
Due to overcrowding at the Border Patrol facility, Ortega-Lopez was released on December 18, 2023, and issued a Notice to Appear, formally initiating removal proceedings under the Immigration and Nationality Act.
Further investigation resulted in the seizure of four firearms from the home of April Cano, the daughter of Joel and Nancy. Social media posts showed Ortega-Lopez posing with several weapons, some of which he allegedly claimed belonged to April.
He is now facing federal charges for being an undocumented immigrant in possession of a firearm, a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(5). If convicted, he could face up to 15 years in prison.
“Doña Ana County has been a hotbed of illegal immigration and drug trafficking, human smuggling for many, many years,” former ICE Field Office Director John Fabbricatore told WPMI. “To see that a judge would allow this to happen. It’s very concerning. It’s concerning. What else has the judge been doing?”
Joel Cano resigned from his judicial position in March, and on Tuesday, the New Mexico Supreme Court issued a ruling permanently prohibiting him from holding any judicial office in the state, Fox reported.
“The people of New Mexico are tired of a system where the powerful don’t play by their own rules,” Amy Barela, Chairwoman of the Republican Party of New Mexico, said in a statement to the Las Cruces Sun-News. “We demand real accountability for Judge Cano’s connection to a gang-affiliated criminal and full transparency on how our judiciary is being held to the same laws as the rest of us. Enough is enough.”
Last month, Noem announced that some of the people allegedly responsible for leaking information about Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids have been caught.
“We have identified two leakers of information here at the Department of Homeland Security who have been telling individuals about our operations and putting law enforcement lives in jeopardy,” she said in a post on X on Friday. “We plan to prosecute these two individuals and hold them accountable for what they’ve done.”
“We’re going to continue to do all that we can to keep America safe,” she added.
Noem did not name the individuals who were caught.
Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for DHS, told Fox News that the two people will face charges
Leave a Reply