U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Mexico Weekly Immigration and Border Crimes Report

ALBUQUERQUE – Today, the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico announced its immigration enforcement statistics for this week. These cases are prosecuted in partnership with the El Paso Sector of the U.S. Border Patrol, along with Homeland Security Investigations El Paso, and assistance from other federal, state, and county agencies. 
In the one-week period ending April 25, 2025, the United States Attorney’s Office brought the following criminal charges in New Mexico:

•    67 individuals were charged this week with Illegal Reentry After Deportation (8 U.S.C. 1326)
•    10 individuals were charged this week with Alien Smuggling (8 U.S.C. 1324)
•    55 individuals were charged this week with Illegal Entry (8 U.S.C. 1325)

Many of the defendants charged pursuant to 18 U.S.C. 1326 had prior criminal convictions for alien smuggling, drug trafficking, burglary and fraud.

In a significant case, former NM state magistrate judge Jose Luis Cano was charged with tampering with evidence in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1512(c)(1).  Cano’s wife, Nancy Ann Cano, was charged with conspiracy to tamper with evidence in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1512(k).  Jose Cano is accused of destroying a cellular telephone belonging to Cristhian Ortega-Lopez, a suspected Tren de Aragua member charged with being an illegal alien in possession of a firearm.  In a post-arrest interview,  Cano admitted to destroying the cellular telephone because he believed it contained incriminating photographs of Ortega-Lopez with firearms. Nancy Cano is accused of conspiring with Ortega-Lopez to delete a social media account to conceal incriminating messages and photographs related to his possession of firearms. At the husband and wife’s initial appearances in federal court on April 25, 2025, they were both detained pending detention hearings on April 29, 2025.

These cases are part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. [use if applicable] Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) and Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN).

These statistics represent prosecutions by the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico only. The numbers do not include individuals apprehended by immigration enforcement officials and subjected solely to administrative process.
Under current leadership, public safety and a secure border are the top priorities for the District of New Mexico. Enhanced enforcement both at the border and in the interior of the district have yielded aliens engaged in unlawful activity or with serious criminal history, including human trafficking, sexual assault and violence against children.  
The District of New Mexico consists of 33 counties and shares 180 miles of international border with Mexico.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys from Albuquerque and Las Cruces work directly with our federal, state and local law enforcement partners to prosecute immigration-related and other federal offenses.