A New Mexico decide tendered his resignation final month after immigration authorities detained a suspect with alleged ties to the Tren de Aragua in his dwelling throughout a late February raid.
Federal brokers on the Division of Homeland Safety had raided former Doña Ana County Justice of the Peace Decide Jose “Joel” Cano’s dwelling on Feb. 28 and arrested 23-year-old Venezuelan nationwide Cristhian Ortega-Lopez, courtroom paperwork reveal.
Authorities additionally confiscated 4 firearms from the Cano’s daughter’s residence, which they performed after acquiring search warrants in response to social media proof of Ortega-Lopez’s ties to Tren de Aragua, the ruthless Venezuelan jail gang.
Cano, a Democrat who served as a decide since 2011, made no point out of the arrest in his resignation letter, which got here days in a while March 3.
“Working with every of you has been a really rewarding expertise for which I’ll stay eternally grateful,” Cano wrote in his resignation letter obtained by The Publish. “All the very best to everybody of you. I want all of you a contented retirement as soon as you might be prepared your self.”
A spokesperson for New Mexico’s Administrative Workplace of the Courts defined that the state supreme courtroom and the Third Judicial District Courtroom, the place Cano was based mostly,” didn’t obtain his resignation till March 31.
Revelations in regards to the alleged gangbanger residing in Cano’s residence had been first made in courtroom paperwork in search of to maintain Ortega-Lopez in detention. The story has since gained traction in native media, together with the Albuquerque Journal newspaper.
Ortega-Lopez started interacting with Cano’s household slightly over a 12 months in the past after serving to the decide’s spouse set up a glass door and doing different odd jobs for her.
By April of final 12 months, he was booted from his condo in El Paso that he shared with 5 others, which prompted Nancy Cano, the decide’s spouse, to supply him lodging within the “casita” of their dwelling in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
Throughout his keep, Ortega-Lopez seemingly started to bond with the decide’s daughter, April Cano, “who possessed a lot of firearms” and let him maintain onto a few of them, per courtroom information.
Ortega-Lopez, who illegally entered the US in 2023 however was launched from a US Customs and Border Patrol facility as a consequence of overcrowding, admitted that he knew he wasn’t allowed to own firearms as a consequence of his standing as an unlawful immigrant.
He had climbed over a barbed-wire fence close to Eagle Move, Texas, and copped to illegally getting into the US, per courtroom paperwork.
Authorities had acquired a tip about Ortega-Lopez and located pictures of him on social media with tattoos, with clothes and making hand gestures “generally related” with Tren de Aragua, courtroom filings declare.
Prosecutors connected pictures of Ortega-Lopez’s tattoos and different proof they’re leaning on to accuse him of affiliation with Tren de Aragua.
“The Defendant is a hazard to the neighborhood as a result of he’s a member of america designated Overseas Terrorist Group Tren de Aragua and usually associates with different members,” they wrote in a submitting to maintain him detained.
Ortega-Lopez was arrested alongside three different Venezuelan unlawful migrants as a part of an operation performed by Homeland Safety Investigations.
The Publish was unable to make contact with Joel Cano for remark.
“The governor will appoint somebody to fill the emptiness by the rest of the decide’s unexpired four-year time period that runs till the top of 2026,” New Mexico’s Administrative Workplace of the Courts spokesperson Barry Massey instructed the Publish.
“Justice of the Peace courtroom judges are elective positions and they are going to be on the poll in 2026.”
Ortega-Lopez is charged with being an unlawful alien in possession of a firearm or ammunition. If convicted, he may resist 15 years behind bars, in accordance with the Justice Division.
