Judge Resigns After Harboring Illegal Gang Member from Venezuela

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What kind of judge lets an alleged gang member live on his property? That’s the question facing New Mexico Magistrate Joel Cano. He just resigned after ICE arrested a suspected member of Venezuela’s brutal Tren de Aragua gang—at his home. The man was also in the country illegally.

A Judge and His Illegal

Ortega-Lopez crossed into the U.S. illegally through Eagle Pass, Texas, in December 2023, and authorities released him due to overcrowding. Rather than vanish, he ended up living on the judge’s property—armed, documented, and reportedly tied to Tren de Aragua, one of Venezuela’s most violent criminal gangs. Err, excuse me, most violent terrorist organizations. LINK.

A Democrat judge in New Mexico has resigned after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested an alleged Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang member at his home.

Judge Joel Cano, the magistrate judge of Dona Ana County, New Mexico and a former police officer, allowed 23-year-old Cristhian Ortega-Lopez, who crossed the border illegally, to file a request for immigration relief using the judge’s home address. Pictures from social media showed the alleged TdA member posing with the judge, Breitbart reported.

Ortega-Lopez was detained on charges of illegal possession of a firearm and also has ties to TdA, federal prosecutors have said. Earlier this year, President Donald Trump declared TdA a foreign terrorist organization.

Investigators with the Department of Justice were able to find pictures and video evidence of Ortega-Lopez and other illegal immigrants firing off rifles at a shooting range, and identified that Ortega-Lopez had tattoos associated with the TdA terror group. – Post Millennial

But it gets worse: Judge Cano and his wife, Nancy, didn’t just allow him to stay—they practically rolled out the red carpet. Ortega-Lopez was reportedly living on their property and even doing work for them. Because when you’re a liberal judge, apparently there’s no red flag too bright to ignore. Why enforce the law when you can play host to a suspected gang member instead?

What’s Really Going On Here?

And this kind of soft-headed thinking isn’t just happening in New Mexico. Our very own U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen actually traveled to El Salvador to visit jailed gang members—trying to get them released. Yes, while American cities are dealing with the fallout of gangs crossing our open border, Democrat politicians are boarding planes to go lobby for the criminals abroad. You can’t make this up.

Investigators report that the Venezuelan national moved to El Paso after being released by Border Patrol agents. There, he roomed with five other people, court documents stated. While living there, Ortega-Lopez met Nancy Cano and began doing construction and handyman jobs. Cano extended an offer for the illegal alien to live in a casita behind her home. – Breitbart

It makes you wonder—if Judge Cano hadn’t been caught in this mess, what else would he have let slide? Would he still be sitting on the bench today, quietly rubber-stamping asylum claims and residency approvals for anyone who managed to cross the border and flash a half-hearted sob story? This man was harboring an alleged member of Tren de Aragua, one of the most violent gangs out there—and we’re supposed to believe it was all just a misunderstanding?

Spreading Like A Virus

Magistrate judges in New Mexico often handle the early stages of immigration cases—bond hearings, warrants, local enforcement issues tied to federal immigration actions. That should alarm anyone paying attention. If a judge is this cozy with a suspected foreign gang member, what kind of decisions was he making for everyone else? How many dangerous individuals may have slipped through under the guise of compassion and due process?

And now the U.S. Supreme Court has jumped in to block the deportation of Venezuelan migrants being detained under a 200-year-old law meant for wartime enemies. The reason? The ACLU says these migrants didn’t get proper notice or a fair shot to challenge removal. So while federal agents scramble to detain members of violent terrorist organizations operating on our soil, the highest court in the land is pressing pause—and we’ve got judges like Cano who were apparently rolling out the welcome mat in the meantime.

This isn’t just a lapse in judgment. It’s a breakdown in the system. And if Cano hadn’t been exposed, he’d likely still be behind the bench, quietly greenlighting chaos with a gavel in hand.

As for the newly resigned bench officer and his wife, Nancy, it’s still unclear whether they’ll face charges for harboring an illegal or aiding a known criminal newly minted terrorist organization.

Reports say investigators found graphic photos on Ortega-Lopez’s phone—decapitated and mutilated bodies, the usual horror. Because when you’re in a terrorist group, that’s just part of the photo album.

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The post Judge Resigns After Harboring Illegal Gang Member from Venezuela appeared first on Victory Girls Blog.



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