New Mexico Democratic Judge Joel (Jose) Cano resigned in disgrace on March 3rd following a raid by ICE on February 28th at one of his residences, owned by him and his wife Nancy, where an alleged Tren de Aragua gangbanger was found living and then arrested.
According to Fox News Digital, the judge’s resignation was not received by the Supreme Court and the 3rd Judicial District Court until March 31.
“All the best to everyone of you,” Joel Cano wrote. “I wish all of you a happy retirement once you are ready yourself.”
TdA gangbanger makes himself at home
The illegal alien gang member entered the United States through Eagle Pass, Texas, in 2023 and was then released on immigration parole due to overcrowding. He eventually made his way to New Mexico and into the judge’s home.
According to Breitbart:
Federal prosecutors in the District of New Mexico allege that 23-year-old Cristhian Ortega-Lopez was illegally in possession of a firearm and has ties to the hyperviolent Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua. Earlier this year, President Donald Trump and the U.S. State Department declared the gang to be a foreign terrorist organization.
Police arrested Ortega-Lopez while executing a search warrant on February 28 at the home of Dona Ana County, New Mexico, Magistrate Judge Joel Cano and his wife, Nancy, the Albuquerque Journal reported this week. The report follows a detention hearing where prosecutors claim the illegal alien is a flight risk and an alleged Tren de Aragua gang member.
Cano is a former police officer, which is puzzling all in itself. He let Ortego-Lopez file a request for immigration relief using his residential address. According to court exhibits, there are pictures all over social media showing the judge with the gangbanger who is a Venezuelan national. Some of those pics show illegal weapons being used.
More from Breitbart:
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. In one image, the man is holding an AR-15-style rifle in one hand and a semi-automatic pistol in the other. A video showed the Venezuelan migrant in possession of another AR-15 equipped with a suppressor. He fired the rifle until it was empty and then reloaded it with a new magazine, which he continued to fire, prosecutors stated.
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.
More firearms were found at a neighboring home owned by Cano’s daughter. The busted gangbanger was seen in possession of a number of those firearms.
Fox News reported:
On Feb. 28, two search warrants were executed at a home investigators identified as owned by Cano’s wife, Nancy Cano. Ortega-Lopez and his roommates were taken into custody, and agents “seized four firearms from April Cano’s residence.” April Cano is the daughter of Nancy and Joel, court documents state.
Gang member taken in by a Democrat judge, his wife, and his daughter
After being released in 2023 by Border Patrol agents, Ortega-Lopez relocated to El Paso and moved in with five other people, according to court documents. While in that living arrangement, the gangbanger met Nancy Cano and was hired to do construction and handyman jobs. Investigators say that at that point, the judge’s wife offered to let him move into the casita behind her home.
He also met their daughter, “who possessed a large number of firearms” and “allowed him to hold and sometimes shoot various firearms,” allegedly including rifles and a handgun tied to the social media posts, according to the Albuquerque Journal.
Breitbart managed to get hold of images from Ortega-Lopez’s cell phone, which show graphic images of multiple decapitated and mutilated bodies.
Released by a second leftist judge
Despite all of that, following the suspect’s making his initial appearance in a Las Cruces court on March 3rd and then appearing at a detention hearing on March 14th, Magistrate Judge Damina L. Marinez decided he “was not a flight risk or danger to the community” and ordered him to be released.
On April 8th, a motion was filed by an assistant U.S. attorney to reconsider the gangbanger’s pretrial release order.
The TdA member is now residing in the Dona Ana County Detention Center. He is charged with being an illegal alien and with possession of firearms.
“The Supreme Court has scheduled an oral argument on April 24, which is public and will be live streamed, concerning Judge Cano,” spokesman Barry Massey said.
It is unknown if Judge Cano, his wife, and possibly their daughter will be charged with harboring an illegal alien or providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization. They should be, because that is exactly what happened.
In March, President Trump issued a proclamation regarding Tren de Aragua stating:
Tren de Aragua (TdA) is a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization with thousands of members, many of whom have unlawfully infiltrated the United States and are conducting irregular warfare and undertaking hostile actions against the United States. TdA operates in conjunction with Cártel de los Soles, the Nicolas Maduro regime-sponsored, narco-terrorism enterprise based in Venezuela, and commits brutal crimes, including murders, kidnappings, extortions, and human, drug, and weapons trafficking. TdA has engaged in and continues to engage in mass illegal migration to the United States to further its objectives of harming United States citizens, undermining public safety, and supporting the Maduro regime’s goal of destabilizing democratic nations in the Americas, including the United States.
