Last Thursday, ICE agents arrested Judge Joel Cano and his wife, Nancy Cano, at their home in Las Cruses, New Mexico, for allegedly harboring an illegal alien gang member. Joel Cano was charged with tampering with evidence and his wife was charged with conspiracy to tamper.
The arrests mark the latest turn in a drama that began late February, when ICE arrested three Venezuelan nationals who were living on the Canos’ property. According to federal officials, all three men are illegally in the U.S. and are well-known members of the gang Tren de Aragua, recently designated by the State Department as a “foreign terrorist organization.”
One of the aliens arrested was 23-year-old Cristhian Ortega-Lopez. According to the Albuquerque Journal, Ortega-Lopez entered the U.S. illegally in December 2023, reportedly by climbing over a barbed wire fence near Eagle Pass, Texas. The Border Patrol captured him, but due to overcrowding, released him on parole three days later and issued him a Notice to Appear in immigration court. Ortega-Lopez eventually moved to El Paso and met Nancy Cano while doing construction and handyman jobs. He subsequently accepted her offer to stay in a small guest house behind her home. In April 2024, Ortega-Lopez filed a request for asylum, listing the Las Cruces address as his residence.
To make matters worse, according to the Albuquerque Journal, during the raid, federal agents recovered four firearms from a neighboring home owned by April Cano, Nancy Cano’s daughter. Federal officials say Ortega-Lopez admitted to possessing and firing them, as seen in photos and videos posted on Facebook last December. This is a serious problem for Ortega-Lopez as illegal aliens are by law barred from possessing firearms. According to federal agents, other videos and images recovered during the raid show Ortega-Lopez and other illegal aliens depicting Tren de Aragua tattoos shooting guns at firing ranges. More disturbingly, a search of Ortega-Lopez’s phone revealed “graphic images of multiple decapitated and mutilated bodies.”
Judge Cano, who served as a Magistrate Judge in Doña Ana County since 2010, quietly resigned from the bench on March 3.
After news of the incident spread, New Mexico’s Judicial Standards Commission launched an investigation into alleged “willful misconduct” by Judge Cano and permanently barred him from practicing law in the state. However, in a 23-page letter submitted to the New Mexico Supreme Court, Cano denied any wrongdoing and said he was unaware of the men’s alleged gang ties. “Let me be as crystal clear as possible,” Cano wrote. “The very first time I ever heard that the boys could possibly have any association with Tren de Aragua was when I was informed of that by [the] agents on the day of the raid.”
Now, officials say that Mr. Cano tampered with evidence. Specifically, they accuse Cano of destroying another cell phone belonging to Ortega-Lopez with a hammer. Officials were looking for the phone because it was believed to contain photos showing Ortega-Lopez holding guns, some of which allegedly belonged to Cano, his wife and their daughter.
If those allegations are true, it’s not clear whether Cano did so to protect himself or Ortega-Lopez and the two other Venezuelans living with him. Despite the claims of gang membership regarding the three men, Cano and his wife still appear to still have sympathies towards them. Responding to the raid on his property in which the men were apprehended, Mr. Cano said that the trio had become “a meaningful part of our extended family.” Ironically, it is quite possible that the ICE raid that scooped up Ortega-Lopez and the two other Venezuelans may have saved the Canos from potentially becoming victims of a gang.
The Canos remain in detention until their hearings in federal court. Meanwhile, Ortega-Lopez remains in detention and is facing federal charges for being an illegal alien in possession of a firearm, a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(5). If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison. Furthermore, as member of a foreign-terrorist organization he will likely be barred from obtaining asylum.
