Prosecutors charged judge and a court officer with obstruction of justice, alleging they helped an immigrant evade Ice

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Federal prosecutors have charged a Massachusetts judge and a court officer with conspiracy and obstruction of justice, alleging that they helped an undocumented immigrant escape a courthouse to elude immigration officials.

The charges mark the latest skirmish over immigration enforcement between Donald Trump’s administration and local governments who have resisted his crackdown.

Investigators claimed the two interfered with an attempt by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) to arrest an undocumented immigrant at a 2018 court proceeding.

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The charges target Massachusetts district court judge Shelley Joseph, 51, and Massachusetts trial court officer Wesley MacGregor, 56, according to court papers filed on Thursday.

They focus on an April 2018 hearing in Newton district court, outside Boston, where an Ice agent intended to arrest an unidentified suspected undocumented immigrant from the Dominican Republic facing a drug charge.

They described a huddled conversation between the judge and the defendant’s lawyer in which Joseph asked: “Ice is gonna get him?” and later said: “I’m not gonna allow them to come in here.”

She then arranged for the suspect to be released through the court’s rear door while the Ice agent waited in the courtroom’s lobby for him to emerge, according to the indictment.

MacGregor was also charged with perjury for allegedly lying to a grand jury that heard evidence on the case.

Massachusetts US attorney Andrew Lelling said the case was not intended to send a political message.

“We did not bring this case in response to the public debate over immigration enforcement,” he said. “This is isn’t a policy seminar, it’s a law enforcement action.”

However, state attorney general Maura Healey rejected that assertion. “Today’s indictment is a radical and politically-motivated attack on our state and the independence of our courts,” Healey said in a statement.

Representatives of the judge and court officer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The state supreme judicial court suspended Joseph without pay following the charges, noting its move “in no way reflects any opinion on the merits of the pending criminal case”.

The charges carry a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.

The suspect has since been caught and is now in federal custody.

Massachusetts’ top court in 2017 ruled that state police cannot detain illegal immigrants solely to buy time for federal officials to take them into custody.

One of Donald Trump’s top priorities in office has been cracking down on immigration and he has regularly railed against “sanctuary” cities and states that do not cooperate with all aspects of federal immigration enforcement.

The president earlier this month floated the idea of transporting undocumented migrants stopped at the US-Mexico border to “sanctuary cities” that do not enforce federal immigration policy, a move that critics called illustrative of the White House’s callous approach to the issue and some Trump allies called impractical.