Disgraced New Mexico Judge, Wife Arrested After Allegedly Harboring Tren de Aragua Gang Members

A disgraced New Mexico magistrate judge and his wife are under arrest after they allegedly harbored reported Tren de Aragua gang members. The judge resigned from his position last week after Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials arrested a Venezuelan man said to be living on his property.

ICE law enforcement officials arrested recently resigned Magistrate Judge Joel Cano and his wife, Nancy, at their home in Las Cruces, New Mexico, on Thursday. ICE officials executed a search warrant and probable cause warrant and took them into custody, Fox 14 El Paso reported. Joel Cano is currently charged with tampering with evidence and his wife is charged with conspiracy to tamper, the report states.

The Cano couple were booked into the Dona Ana County Detention Center between 6:30 and 7 p..m. on Thursday, the Albuquerque Journal reported. They are currently being held without bond. Before being elected to the magistrate judge position in 2010, Joel Cano served for nearly 23 years in the Las Cruces Police Department.

Joel Cano resigned from his position as a magistrate judge in Dona Ana County, New Mexico, after ICE agents raided his home and took 23-year-old Cristhian Ortega-Lopez, a Venezuelan migrant who illegally entered the U.S. in December 2023 and is suspected of being a member of the Tren de Aragua gang, into custody on firearms-related charges, Breitbart Texas reported.

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Social media posts obtained by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico showed Ortega-Lopez and other illegal aliens at a shooting range. They appeared to be in possession of multiple firearms and a large quantity of handgun and rifle ammunition. {snip}

The photos and videos showed Ortega-Lopez displaying Tren de Aragua gang tattoos. The United States government recently declared this violent gang to be a Transnational Criminal Organization.

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