Attorney General Pam Bondi revealed in an interview with Fox News the insane lengths New Mexico Judge Joel Cano and his wife took to protect an illegal alien gang member.
“Judge Cano, soon to be former Judge Cano, got, his charges were just unsealed. He’s charged with obstruction. He admitted post-Miranda. He took one of the TDA member’s cell phones, himself, took it, beat it with a hammer, destroyed it, and then walked the pieces to a city dumpster to dispose of it to protect him,” she said on Fox News.
The judge resigned last month and this week the state Supreme Court barred him from ever being a judge in the state again.
“He had on his cell phone pictures of two decapitated victims… and he was sending them out and whoever he was sending them to was sending back, ‘Hey, you need to be careful. You shouldn’t be texting these photos out,’” the attorney general said.
The attorney general said that Cano and his wife, Nancy, provided the gang member, Cristhian Ortega-Lopez, with assault rifles, which were allegedly owned by their daughter, April Cano.
“This is the last person that we want in our country… nor will we ever tolerate a judge or anyone else harboring them,” she said.
Bondi also gave a stark warning to rogue judges who believe they can go against federal agencies after two were arrested for assisting illegal aliens.
“They’re deranged is all I can think of … I think some of these judges think they are beyond and above the law and they are not,” she said on the Fox News show “America Reports.”
“And we’re sending a very strong message today: if you are harboring a fugitive, we don’t care who you are. If you are helping hide one, if you are giving a TdA member guns, anyone who is illegally in this country, we will come after you and prosecute you. We will find you,” she said.
“No one is above the law in this country. And if you are destroying evidence, if you are obstructing justice — when you have victims sitting in a courtroom of domestic violence and you’re escorting a criminal defendant out a back door — it will not be tolerated and it is a crime in the United States of America,” she said. “Doesn’t matter who you are, you’re going to be prosecuted.”
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The Department of Justice issued a press release detailing the charges after the two judges were arrested.
“The allegations against Judge Dugan and Judge Cano are serious: no one, least of all a judge, should obstruct law enforcement operations,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said. “Doing so imperils the safety of our law enforcement officers and undermines the rule of law. The Department of Justice will continue to follow the facts — no one is above the law.”
“Sanctuary jurisdictions that shield criminal aliens endanger American communities,” Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said. “This Justice Department will not stand by as local officials put politics over public safety. Reckless sanctuary city policies create a sanctuary for one class—criminals. Those days are over.”
“Nancy Ann Cano, 68, and Jose Luis Cano, 67, were arrested yesterday for evidence tampering offenses related to the federal investigation and prosecution against Cristhian Ortega-Lopez, a Venezuelan national residing unlawfully within the United States and with alleged ties to transnational criminal organization Tren de Aragua, a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO),” the press release said.
“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,” U.S. Attorney Ryan Ellison for the District of New Mexico said. “The U.S. Attorney’s Office is committed to dismantling this foreign terrorist organization by disrupting its criminal operations in New Mexico. That starts by prosecuting those who support gang members — including judges.”
“Evidence uncovered by federal agents revealed the defendant had posted multiple photos and videos on social media showing him and other illegal aliens handling firearms at a shooting range in Las Cruces, New Mexico,” it said.
The press release said that Judge Dugan engaged in “alleged interference with a federal law enforcement operation and unlawful concealment of an individual subject to arrest.”