Former Utah court clerks charged after being accused of helping undocumented immigrants evade ICE
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Alixel Cabrera, Utah News Dispatch
SALT LAKE CITY (Utah News Dispatch) — Two former court clerks in Utah were arrested after being accused of being “self-appointed anti-ICE vigilantes” for helping an undocumented immigrant escape out a back door of the Logan City Municipal Justice Court to avoid being arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
Both former clerks, Jennifer Joma and Lauren Morrow, were charged in U.S. District Court of Utah with three felonies — conspiracy to transport and harbor illegal aliens, harboring illegal aliens, and obstruction of proceedings before departments and agencies. Joma faces an additional count of transporting illegal aliens.
“After they overheard that ICE was at the courthouse to arrest someone, they improperly accessed court databases to determine who was not born in the United States. They then snuck every suspected illegal alien who was at the courthouse out a back door, where ICE, who was waiting in the parking lot for their target to leave the building, could not see them,” federal prosecutors wrote in court documents asking that they be released under certain conditions..
Joma picked up three of the immigrants in her car and drove them away from the courthouse, the filing added.
The former clerks pleaded not guilty to all counts and were being processed for release on Thursday as they await further litigation. Their attorneys declined to comment on the case.
“Acting as self-appointed anti-ICE vigilantes, the defendants and others took it upon themselves to obstruct immigration proceedings and the lawful enforcement of United States immigration laws,” the court filing says.
According to the document, an ICE officer entered the courthouse on April 9 to arrest a person lacking permanent legal status who was meant to show up for a court appearance. After being asked by a judge to not arrest anyone in the courtroom to avoid a disturbance, the agent “went outside and waited in his car for his target to leave the courthouse before trying to arrest him.”
Joma and Morrow checked the court’s database to try to determine who the ICE officer was targeting, prosecutors say, while another clerk kept them updated on the court proceedings happening that day.
The clerks identified four people who had not been born in the United States and spoke to them after their court appearances.
After helping sneak the first person out of the courthouse, Morrow and Joma noticed a surveillance camera, the document says. “This did not appear to deter or concern them. JOMA waved and smiled. MORROW waived (sic) and then used her middle finger to flip off the camera.”
Joma then drove three other people who were not born in the country and had been made aware of ICE’s presence, according to the filing. It wasn’t until court hearings had concluded for some time that another ICE officer went into the courthouse to check on the person he was aiming to arrest.
“He asked MORROW if she knew how the targeted illegal alien could get out if ICE was watching the door the whole time,” according to prosecutors. “MORROW did not tell him that she and JOMA had led four aliens out the back door of the courthouse. Nor did she tell him that JOMA had driven three aliens away in her car out of sight of ICE.”
The two women resigned from their jobs with the court after the incident.
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