Longtime Doña Ana County Magistrate Judge Joel Cano — a Democrat and former police officer — abruptly resigned after federal agents arrested an alleged member of the violent Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang at a residence he owns.
The bombshell resignation letter, dated March 3, came just days after federal agents with Homeland Security Investigations raided a property tied to Cano and his wife, Nancy, arresting 23-year-old Cristhian Ortega-Lopez on federal gun charges, the Albuquerque Journal reported.
The Venezuelan gang member, who is in the U.S. illegally and has alleged ties to a ruthless transnational gang, was allegedly in possession of multiple firearms — including ones linked to disturbing images and videos on social media. Court filings show Ortega-Lopez had been living in a “casita” behind Judge Cano’s residence in Las Cruces after allegedly meeting Nancy Cano while doing handyman work.
Ortega-Lopez, who had unlawfully entered the United States by scaling a barbed-wire fence in Eagle Pass, Texas, was released on so-called “humanitarian parole” due to overcrowding — a tragic consequence of Biden’s wide-open border disaster.
Once in New Mexico, prosecutors allege Ortega-Lopez became acquainted with April Cano, the judge’s stepdaughter, who reportedly owned a cache of firearms and allowed the illegal alien to shoot and pose with the weapons — images that later surfaced on Facebook.
Last month, the Trump administration moved to invoke the “state secrets privilege” in its ongoing case regarding the deportation of Venezuelan gang members.
The “state secrets privilege” is a legal doctrine developed by the Supreme Court that “protects sensitive national security information from being disclosed in civil litigation,” a summary of the doctrine explains.
A court filing on the matter states that the “Executive Branch hereby notifies the Court that no further information will be provided in response to the Court’s March 18, 2025, Minute Order based on the state secrets privilege and the concurrently filed declarations of the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security.”
