U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said that one of the three illegal aliens involved in the arrest of a former New Mexico judge had images of a decapitated victim on his cell phone.
Bondi offered the revelation as evidence that the illegal alien allegedly harbored by former Judge Jose “Joel” Cano was a member of the vicious Tren de Aragua gang from El Salvador. Cano resigned from his office after his residence was searched in February, and he was arrested on Friday.
‘Not only that, this TDA member, and he had on a necklace that said “kill,” something about death, he had tattoos all over him.’
Democrats have objected to the arrest and accused the administration of abusing government powers, but Bondi appeared on Fox News in order to deny the allegations. Fox host Sandra Smith said the illegal alien was linked to the gang through clothing, tattoos, and text messages, before asking Bondi what charges the former judge and his wife faced.
“Judge Cano, soon to be former Judge Cano — his charges were just unsealed. He is charged with obstruction. … He admitted post-Miranda. He took one of the TDA members’ cell phones himself — took it, beat it with a hammer, destroyed it, then walked the pieces to a city dumpster to dispose of it to protect him,” said Bondi.
“The wife is also charged with destroying evidence,” she continued. “Not only that. This TDA member — and he had on a necklace that said ‘kill,’ something about death. He had tattoos all over him. He also had on his cell phone pictures of two decapitated victims — two victims, decapitated!” she emphasized. “Gruesome photos!”
She went on to say that the former judge and his wife gave assault rifles with suppressors that belonged to their daughter to the alleged gang members. The affidavit said they went with the TDA members with the guns to a shooting range.
“This is the last person that we want in our country, nor will we ever tolerate a judge or anyone else harboring them!” she concluded.
Video of the allegations was posted to the White House’s rapid response account on social media.
Cano has claimed that he didn’t know the three were linked to the gang and that the first time he heard of it was when his home in Las Cruces was raided.
“Let me be as crystal clear as possible,” Cano wrote, according to KOAT-TV. “The very first time I ever heard that the boys could possibly have any association with Tren de Aragua was when I was informed of that by [the] agents on the day of the raid.”
He further claimed that he saw documentation saying they were not subject to deportation and that their asylum claims were being processed. To the charges that he took them to a shooting range, he said that he took no firearms or ammunition to the range and that he and his wife were merely spectators.
Cano has been permanently barred from serving as a judge by the New Mexico Supreme Court.
Trump has designated the Tren de Aragua gang as a terror group so that he could invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 and summarily deport those identified as members. Democrats and other critics of the administration have charged that Trump has improperly deported people with dubious connections to the gang without due process.
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