In yet more huge news and ammunition for MAGA Americans who are sick and tired of seeing the judiciary try to hold up President Trump’s agenda with swiftly-overruled orders and rulings, a woke, Democrat judge in New Mexico resigned from his position after U.S. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) arrested an alleged Tren de Aragua gang member living in his home.
As background, President Trump declared Tren de Aragua a terrorist organization.”Tren de Aragua (TdA) is a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization with thousands of members, many of whom have unlawfully infiltrated the United States and are conducting irregular warfare and undertaking hostile actions against the United States,” he said in a mid-March proclamation.
Continuing, he said, “TdA operates in conjunction with Cártel de los Soles, the Nicolas Maduro regime-sponsored, narco-terrorism enterprise based in Venezuela, and commits brutal crimes, including murders, kidnappings, extortions, and human, drug, and weapons trafficking. TdA has engaged in and continues to engage in mass illegal migration to the United States to further its objectives of harming United States citizens, undermining public safety, and supporting the Maduro regime’s goal of destabilizing democratic nations in the Americas, including the United States.”
It is Tren de Aragua to which the arrested illegal alien belonged. He had been caught entering the country, Border Hawk News reports, near Eagle Pass, Texas, but was then released on immigration parole due to overcrowding, and after being released, lived with the Democrat judge.
Such is what the Albuquerque Journal reports, noting that, “Court documents state that he met Nancy Cano [Judge Cano’s wife] doing construction and handyman jobs, and accepted her offer to stay in a casita behind her home. In April 2024, Ortega-Lopez filed a request for immigration relief, listing the Las Cruces address as his residence.”
That judge is Judge Jose “Joel” Cano, a former police officer who became a judge in 2011. He submitted his letter of resignation, Border Hawk News reports, on March 3 of 2025, just days after, operating on an anonymous tip, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) El Paso arrested the illegal alien gangster, Cristhian Ortega-Lopez, at a Las Cruces residence owned by Judge Cano.
Posting about the matter on X, Wild Lyman, a reporter for and founder of Border Hawk News, noted, “Las Cruces, New Mexico: A Doña Ana County magistrate judge has abruptly stepped down following suspicious circumstances and a possible connection to an alleged Tren de Aragua affiliate.”
Continuing, Lyman noted, “As reported by @AlgernonWrites of the Albuquerque Journal on 4/16/25, Judge Joel Cano submitted a resignation letter on March 3, 2025. (He took the bench in 2011.) Judge Cano told a source in Las Cruces that he did indeed resign but did not comment further. @BorderHawkNews contacted the judge’s office on April 1, 2025 and was told by a clerk that he had ‘retired.’”
Adding more details about the arrested illegal alien in a separate post, Lyman said, “ICE/HSI arrested Cristhian Ortega-Lopez at a residence owned by Cano on February 28, 2025 following an anonymous tip. Ortega-Lopez entered the country illegally on 12/15/23 in Eagle Pass, TX and was released due to overcrowding at the Border Patrol Facility on 12/18/23.”
Continuing, Lyman said, “He is a Venezuelan national and authorities believe that based on tattoos, clothing apparel, and displaying of hand gestures that he is an affiliate of Tren de Aragua. Ortega-Lopez is charged by criminal complaint with being an illegal alien in possession of a firearm or ammunition.”
Then, in another post, Lyman said, “A review of Ortega-Lopez’s social media shows him shooting at a local range and holding multiple firearms. The page also shows photos of what appears to be Judge Cano and Ortega-Lopez socializing, including Ortega-Lopez passing a long rifle to both Judge Cano and Nancy.”