A former New Mexico judge and his wife were arrested on Thursday after law enforcement officials discovered that they were harboring an alleged member of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang.
According to KTSM, Special Agent in Charge for Homeland Security Investigations El Paso confirmed that law enforcement officials arrested former New Mexico Judge Joel Cano and his wife, Nancy Cano, at their home on Thursday. The outlet noted that Joel Cano was a judge in Doña Ana County until his resignation last month.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said the former judge currently faces charges of tampering with evidence, while the judge’s wife faces a charge of conspiracy to tamper, according to KTSM.
KTSM reported that the former judge rented property to alleged gang member Christhian Oretega-Lopez last year at the direction of his wife. A criminal complaint obtained by the outlet noted that the former judge and his wife met the alleged gang member when they hired him to do housework.
According to KTSM, the District Attorney’s Office confirmed that the former judge’s daughter had multiple firearms that the family allowed Ortega-Lopez to hold, shoot, and take pictures with. The outlet noted that federal officials arrested Ortega-Lopez in February and seized the firearms that had been displayed in pictures online. Officials said the alleged gang member admitted that he illegally entered the United States in 2023.
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Commenting on the arrest of the former judge and his wife, Stevens said, “Initially, we came back here to arrest his wife, and as we started conducting our interviews and started looking at evidence, we subsequently arrested Mr. Cano as well.”
According to KTSM, Stevens confirmed that two other alleged gang members had also been living at the former judge’s residence and had been taken into custody.
“All three of them, we believe, are alleged members of that (Tren de Aragua),” Stevens said. “Obviously, we continue just to focus on the totality of the investigation instead of just zeroing out on them.”
A video of the former New Mexico judge’s arrest was shared Thursday on X, formerly Twitter, by Collin Rugg, co-owner of Trending Politics.
“Under President Trump, we have arrested over 150,000 aliens—including more than 600 members of the vicious Tren de Aragua gang,” Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a Friday post on social media. “If you are here illegally and break the law, we will hunt you down, arrest you and lock you up. That’s a promise.”
