Judge accused of enabling immigrant to escape ICE gets a rare public reprimand

BOSTON (AP) — The highest court in Massachusetts on Thursday issued a public reprimand against a district court judge who was accused of allowing an immigrant to escape U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody.

The case dates back to 2018 when Judge Shelley Joseph was accused of colluding with the immigrant’s attorney and a court officer to allow him escape out a back door of the courthouse after a hearing on charges that included drug possession.

The decision by the Supreme Judicial Court follows a recommendation for the reprimand by a hearing officer for the Commission on Judicial Conduct. It concluded that Joseph created the appearance of impropriety and failed to comply with the law.

“The respondent’s statements during that conversation, including her proposal to detain (the immigrant) overnight in State custody, and her conduct in instructing the clerk to turn off the court room audio recording system, created an appearance of impropriety in violation of her duties,” according to the Supreme Judicial Court ruling.

Joseph’s attorney, Elizabeth Mulvey, argued at the commission hearing last year that the case had been distorted over time and that everyone had come to believe that her client “let an illegal immigrant out of the door” with half the public believing she should be jailed and the other half calling her a “folk hero.”

Mulvey also argued that Joseph had been vilified in the media and people were giving the impression that “dozens of people” had seen Joseph “get off the bench, escort the defendant to the door, give him a hug and wish him God speed.”

On Thursday, Mulvey acknowledged that it had been an “incredibly long and difficult eight years for Judge Joseph.”

“We are grateful to the hearing officer who undertook this monumental task and pleased that his efforts have shown that this was a baseless federal prosecution from the beginning and solely the work of the defense lawyer involved,” Mulvey said in a statement. “Judge Joseph is thankful for everyone who stood by her and looks forward to rejoining her colleagues.”

The case is similar to that of a former Wisconsin judge who was convicted in December of felony obstruction for helping a man evade immigration authorities. The case has escalated a clash between the Trump administration and local authorities over the Republican president’s sweeping immigration crackdown.

Last year, Hannah Dugan escorted a man and his lawyer out of her courtroom through the jury door after learning that 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 threats of impeachment from Republican state lawmakers who labeled her an activist judge. In her resignation letter, she said her prosecution threatened “the independence of our judiciary.” Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, a fierce Trump loyalist running for Wisconsin governor, had urged authorities to “lock her up.”

Then in July, U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman fined Dugan $5,000, describing the case as a situation where an otherwise good person, upset by immigration policies in this country, made a bad decision in the moment. She was spared prison time.

In the Massachusetts case, federal obstruction of justice charges against Joseph were dropped in 2022 after she agreed to refer herself to a state agency that investigates allegations of misconduct by members of the bench.

That agency, the Commission on Judicial Conduct, concluded that Joseph “engaged in willful judicial misconduct that brought the judicial office into disrepute, as well as conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice and unbecoming a judicial officer.”