‘Egregious’ allegations emerge against judge accused of harboring illegal alien gangbanger

New details have emerged about the now-former New Mexico judge and wife duo who were caught harboring an illegal alien.

As previously reported, former Doña Ana County Magistrate Judge Joel Cano and his wife were arrested Thursday at their Las Cruces home on allegations they’d harbored an illegal alien gang banger named Cristhian Ortega-Lopez and also tampered with evidence.

‘I think there are more’: Cuffs are the consequences for judge harboring Tren de Aragua gang member https://t.co/e7yVvSC0z8 via @BIZPACReview

— BPR based (@DumpstrFireNews) April 25, 2025

Criminal complaints filed a day later show that Cano has been charged with tampering with evidence, and his wife, Nancy, has been charged with conspiracy to tamper with evidence.

“Judges are responsible for upholding our country’s laws. It is beyond egregious for a former judge and his wife to engage in evidence tampering on behalf of a suspected Tren de Aragua gang member accused of illegally possessing firearms,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan Ellison.

According to CNN, in January, the Department of Homeland Security received an anonymous tip that Ortega-Lopez was living with other illegal aliens in the Canos’ home and illegally carrying firearms.

A subsequent investigation led to the discovery of photos and videos online of Ortega-Lopez and his friends at a shooting range holding handguns and rifles. The investigation also uncovered tattoos, clothing, and hand gestures associated with the Tren de Aragua gang.

Ortega-Lopez was himself arrested by the feds at the Canos’ home on Feb. 28th. Investigators found him with three cell phones, one of which reportedly contained images of dead bodies.

BREAKING: Pam Bondi reveals the Tren-de-Aragua terrorist who was being protected by the recently arrested New Mexico Judge had pictures of TWO decapitated victims on his phone:

“Had on his cellphone pictures of two decapitated victims.”pic.twitter.com/N9yM5dZQGr

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) April 25, 2025

Investigators were confident he had a fourth phone somewhere. They were right.

“They [later] discovered two video messages between Nancy Cano and Ortega-Lopez, which showed a fourth phone and the two discussing how to potentially delete Ortega-Lopez’s Facebook accounts,” CNN notes.

It was this discovery that led to the raid on the Canos’ home this Thursday.

During the raid, Cano admitted to having destroyed Ortega-Lopez’s phone “by smashing it with a hammer and discard(ing) the remaining pieces in the city trash dumpster approximately five weeks ago,” according to the criminal complaint against him.

He added that he’d thought the phone “contained photos or videos that would reflect negatively” on Ortega-Lopez, the illegal alien gang banger.

Cano has since denied wrongdoing and argued that he had no idea that Ortega-Lopez and his friends, all of whom were allowed to stay at his home, were Tren de Aragua gang members.

Is this a pic of Judge Jose “Joel” Cano using gang signs? He allowed illegal alien, Cristhian Ortega-Lopez, 23, to file for immigration relief using his home address. He has since resigned. pic.twitter.com/vx814FRHRy

— Kim “Katie” USA (@KimKatieUSA) April 21, 2025

“Let me be as crystal clear as possible,” he wrote in a letter to the New Mexico Supreme Court proclaiming his innocence. “The very first time I ever heard that [the men] 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.”

He also alleged that they’d shown him immigration paperwork proving that they were in the country legally.

“Their papers stated in the upper right-hand corner, ‘This Person is Not Subject to Removal,’” he wrote. “They each had a specific court date regarding their asylum hearing.”

And finally, he argued that he’d never have put his family at risk if he’d known.

“I have three grandkids that I love dearly,” he wrote. “Their ages are 15, 8 and 6. There is no way in the world that I would have allowed my grandkids to have any contact with the boys if I had sensed danger.”

Meanwhile, the New Mexico Judicial Standards Commission has accused Cano of having provided Ortega-Lopez and his friends with the guns they were seen with at a shooting range. Cano has denied this as well.

“I did not take a single firearm to the range,” he wrote in his letter to the New Mexico Supreme Court. “I took no ammunition to the range either. [My wife] and I went only as spectators.”

Cano’s arrest came a day before another judge, Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan, was arrested for allegedly helping an illegal alien escape from federal agents.

Senior Staff Writer
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V. Saxena is a staff writer for BizPac Review with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University.

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