Massachusetts Judge Publicly Reprimanded Over 2018 ICE Courthouse Escape
Massachusetts' top court publicly reprimanded Judge Shelley Joseph for her role in a 2018 courthouse incident that allowed an immigrant to evade ICE custody.
The highest court in Massachusetts issued a public reprimand on Thursday against a district court judge accused of enabling an immigrant to avoid U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, closing a case that dates to 2018.
Judge Shelley Joseph was accused of working with the immigrant's attorney and a court officer to let the man leave through a back door of the courthouse after a hearing on charges that included drug possession.
The Supreme Judicial Court's decision followed a recommendation for the reprimand from a hearing officer for the Commission on Judicial Conduct. The court concluded that Joseph created the appearance of impropriety and failed to comply with the law.
In its ruling, the court pointed to Joseph's statements during a conversation — including a proposal to hold the immigrant overnight in state custody — and her instruction to the clerk to turn off the courtroom audio recording system, saying the conduct violated her duties.
Joseph's attorney, Elizabeth Mulvey, argued at a commission hearing last year that the case had been distorted over time, with the public split between believing her client should be jailed and calling her a "folk hero." Mulvey said Joseph had been vilified in the media, including impressions that dozens of people had watched her escort the defendant to the door, hug him and wish him well.
On Thursday, Mulvey acknowledged the "incredibly long and difficult eight years for Judge Joseph." She said she was grateful to the hearing officer and pleased that his efforts showed the federal prosecution was baseless from the start and solely the work of the defense lawyer involved. Joseph, she added, looks forward to rejoining her colleagues.
Federal obstruction of justice charges against Joseph were dropped in 2022 after she agreed to refer herself to the state agency that investigates misconduct allegations against judges. That body, the Commission on Judicial Conduct, found she engaged in willful judicial misconduct that brought the judicial office into disrepute, along with conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice and unbecoming a judicial officer.
The Massachusetts matter echoes the case of a former Wisconsin judge convicted in December of felony obstruction for helping a man evade immigration authorities. Last year, Hannah Dugan escorted a man and his lawyer out of her courtroom through the jury door after learning immigration authorities were seeking his arrest; the man was taken into custody outside the courthouse after agents chased him on foot.
Dugan resigned the Milwaukee County circuit judgeship she had held for nine years in January amid impeachment threats from Republican state lawmakers who called her an activist judge. In her resignation letter, she said her prosecution threatened the independence of the judiciary. In July, U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman fined Dugan $5,000, describing the case as an otherwise good person upset by immigration policies making a bad decision in the moment, and spared her prison time.
The cases have unfolded amid a broader clash between the Trump administration and local authorities over the president's sweeping immigration crackdown.