Joel Cano Biography – Joel Cano Wiki

Joel Cano is a former Magistrate Judge in Doña Ana County, New Mexico. He served on the bench from 2011-2025. In April 2025, the Supreme Court of New Mexico permanently barred Cano from holding any judicial office in the state. The judge had resigned from the bench in March 2025.

The discipline handed down by the Supreme Court of New Mexico makes it so Cano “can never hold a judicial office again, be a candidate for a judicial office, and cannot exercise any judicial authority in the state,” The NY Post reported.

The state’s Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham “will appoint someone to fill the vacancy through the remainder of the judge’s unexpired four-year term that runs until the end of 2026,” a spokesperson for the Administrative Office of the Courts told Fox News.

Joel served with the Las Cruces Police Department for nearly 23 years before first being elected, as a Democrat, to the Doña Ana County Magistrate Court in the November 2010 general election. The former police officer is a 1975 graduate of Las Cruces High School.

Joel Cano Age

Judge Joel Cano was born in 1958 in Old Mesilla, New Mexico.

Joel Cano Wife

Former Doña Ana County Magistrate Judge Joel Cano is married to his wife Nancy Cano.

Resignation

New Mexico Judge Joel Cano resigned from the bench in March 2025. Although his resignation letter, dated March 03,2025, did not state his reason for stepping down, it followed shortly after a man awaiting deportation proceedings, accused by federal law enforcement of being affiliated with a Venezuelan gang, was arrested at Cano’s home.

Arrest

Former Democratic Doña Ana County Magistrate Judge Joel Cano and his wife, Nancy Cano, were arrested on April 24, 2025, after federal agents raided their home in Las Cruces for allegedly harboring Cristhian Ortega-Lopez — an accused illegal migrant who federal officials say is a member of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.

According to Court documents, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) initiated an inquiry into Cristhian Ortega-Lopez in January 2025, following an anonymous tip. Ortega-Lopez, an illegal alien from Venezuela suspected of being affiliated with Tren de Aragua, was allegedly residing with other illegal aliens in Las Cruces and had been in possession of firearms. The investigators determined Ortega-Lopez had entered the U.S. illegally on December 15, 2023, and was released pending removal proceedings.

Ex-New Mexico Judge Joel Cano and his wife, Nancy Cano, each face two charges of evidence tampering for allegedly harboring Cristhian Ortega-Lopez. On Feb. 28, Ortega-Lopez was apprehended during an ICE raid at the judge’s tony Las Cruces, NM, residence, where the suspected gangbanger lived in a guesthouse after first ingratiating himself as a handyman, Fox News reported, citing court documents.

Joel Cano Political Party

Judge Joel Cano is a Democrat. He is a member of the Democratic Party of Dona Ana County.