Massachusetts Judge Charged with Helping Illegal Immigrant Evade ICE
A Massachusetts state court judge was indicted Thursday on obstruction of justice charges for allegedly helping a man living in the U.S. illegally to evade a waiting immigration enforcement agent by sneaking out a back door.
District Court Judge Shelley M. Richmond Joseph came under federal investigation last year after authorities said she and a court officer schemed to let the man escape from the Newton courthouse in March 2018.
“From certain corners, I have heard the occasional gasp of dismay or outrage at the notion of holding a judge accountable for violating federal law,” Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling told reporters.
“But if the law is not applied equally, it cannot credibly be applied to anyone.”
Former trial court officer Wesley MacGregor was also charged.
The case caused an uproar on social media.
Tom Fitton, president of the conservative legal group Judicial Watch, called Joseph’s indictment “justice.”
JUSTICE! Massachusetts judge who helped illegal immigrant escape ICE arrest indicted, federal authorities say https://t.co/YFjkDS5Hh8 #FoxNews
— Tom Fitton (@TomFitton) April 25, 2019
Plenty of people agreed.
Finally someone held accountable for their actions against the “Rule of Law”! No matter what your position is “Judge”! Let’s hope it’s the start of law and order.
— Leon Luchkovitz (@LLuchkovitz) April 25, 2019
GOOD…EQUAL JUSTICE FOR ALL…CRIMINALS!!!!
— Deena Lynne Levy (@LynneDeena) April 25, 2019
good start. keep going. to the people with tds this is what obstruction looks like.
— jim hubenschmidt (@HubenschmidtJim) April 25, 2019
Personally I want to see more of these arrests. These games that Judges and politicians are playing are seen by the left as harmless but it’s the US citizens that are paying for it with everything from property to our lives.
— Tom Brooks (@olderthandirt01) April 25, 2019
Joseph, 51, and MacGregor, 56, were expected to appear in Boston federal court later Thursday.
Prosecutors say an immigration agent was in the courtroom to detain the man following an April 2018 hearing on charges that included drug possession.
Authorities say Joseph asked the agent to leave the courtroom and told him that the suspect, who had been barred from entering the U.S. until 2027, would be released into the courthouse lobby.
Instead, after the hearing, MacGregor led the defendant downstairs to the lockup and let him out the rear door, Lelling said.
The suspect was caught by immigration officials about a month after the hearing, Lelling said, and is now in immigration proceedings.
“Abuses of power hurt us all,” said Peter Fitzhugh, special agent in charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations in Boston.
“It undermines the core mission of government to serve the people. It has no place in a just and accountable society,” he said.
The Western Journal has reviewed this Associated Press story and may have altered it prior to publication to ensure that it meets our editorial standards.
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