"A Democrat judge in New Mexico resigned from his bench last month after immigration agents arrested an alleged Tren de Aragua gang member living in his home".

 

A New Mexico judge resigned over allegations that he kept a Tren de Aragua member in his home

By Andrea Widburg www.americanthinker.com

The Breitbart headline looks like something ripped straight from the Babylon Bee: “New Mexico Democrat Judge Resigns After ICE Arrests Alleged Tren de Aragua Gang Member in His Home.” But it’s not satire about the Democrat party’s abiding love for illegal aliens, especially the more violent ones. Instead, if true, it’s yet more evidence that the Democrat party no longer represents or even cares about ordinary Americans. It’s also evidence—admittedly, just one item, but still evidence--of the fact that Democrat judges have little regard for the law.

I’ve made my disdain for judges clear over the years. Having practiced before leftist judges for decades in the San Francisco Bay Area, I long ago observed that they reach their conclusions based upon their political biases, and then find bits and pieces of statutory and case authority to give a slender gloss of legitimacy to those rulings. My disdain extends from the lowliest local court magistrate all the way up to the leftists and squishes on the Supreme Court.

Having said that, I was still surprised to read this report:

A Democrat judge in New Mexico resigned from his bench last month after immigration agents arrested an alleged Tren de Aragua gang member living in his home. The illegal alien entered the U.S. in Eagle Pass, Texas, before being released on an immigration parole due to overcrowding. He eventually moved to New Mexico.

 Federal prosecutors in the District of New Mexico allege that 23-year-old Cristhian Ortega-Lopez was illegally in possession of a firearm and has ties to the hyperviolent Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua. Earlier this year, President Donald Trump and the U.S. State Department declared the gang to be a foreign terrorist organization.

There doesn’t seem to be much doubt that the young man living in Judge Cano’s home was an illegal alien. Indeed, Judge Cano knew that fact:

Cano, a former police officer, allowed Ortega-Lopez to file a request for immigration relief using the judge’s residential address. Court exhibits also posted social media posts of the foreign national posing with the judge.

The big question is whether Cano—again, a former police officer—knew about the alleged gang affiliations. There certainly seems to be a lot of evidence that the young illegal alien really liked guns, lots and lots of guns:

Social media posts obtained by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico showed Ortega-Lopez and other illegal aliens at a shooting range. They appeared to be in possession of multiple firearms and a large quantity of handgun and rifle ammunition. In one image, the man is holding an AR-15-style rifle in one hand and a semi-automatic pistol in the other. A video showed the Venezuelan migrant in possession of another AR-15 equipped with a suppressor. He fired the rifle until it was empty and then reloaded it with a new magazine, which he continued to fire, prosecutors stated.

Many of those guns seemingly came from the judge’s stepdaughter.

Given that Ortega-Lopez was seeking to stay in America by claiming refugee status, I doubt that Judge Cano committed wrongdoing by housing him while that process was ongoing. Having said that, if he facilitated an illegal alien’s gun possession or had any inkling about the man’s gang affiliations...well, that’s a different kettle of fish. In that case, I hope that the DOJ takes any such allegations very, very seriously.