A Massachusetts judge is under scrutiny for allegedly assisting an undocumented immigrant in escaping from her courtroom to avoid arrest by federal immigration officers stationed at the courthouse. Misconduct hearings for the judge began on Monday, and soon it will be determined if she can continue her duties as a judge.

The case involves Newton District Court Judge Shelley Joseph and mirrors similar charges against another state judge, Hannah C. Dugan, in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. Both judges are accused of aiding migrants in avoiding capture by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Under the Trump administration, prosecutors filed criminal charges against Judge Joseph for the 2018 incident. However, in 2022, the Biden administration agreed to drop the charges, with the condition that the judge subject herself to a professional conduct panel’s decision.

As Law&Crime previously reported, Joseph was charged in 2019 with conspiracy to obstruct justice, aiding and abetting obstruction of justice, aiding and abetting obstruction of a federal proceeding, and perjury.

According to the formal charges filed in December 2024, Joseph is accused of assisting Jose Medina-Perez, an undocumented immigrant who had been twice deported from the United States, of evading federal immigration agents. Medina-Perez was arrested again in 2018 and, facing his third deportation in court, an ICE officer arrived to pick up Medina-Perez for potential removal. In the courtroom, discussion ensued as to whether Medina-Perez had been properly identified by ICE.

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Ultimately, at the judge’s direction, a court clerk told the ICE officer to wait outside the courtroom while Medina-Perez, with assistance from a court officer, then exited through courthouse’s rear door

The proceedings began Monday with a viewing of the Newton District Courthouse, where the incident took place, and resumed at the Suffolk County Courthouse in Boston. Attorney Denis McInerney was appointed as Hearing Officer by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and presided over the hearing.

“This case is about the integrity, impartiality and independence of the Massachusetts judiciary and the appearance of the integrity, impartiality and independence every judge must uphold,” Judith Fabricant, special counsel for the commission, told McInerney, according to a report from Reuters.

Fabricant reportedly highlighted a 52-second sidebar that took place just prior to Medina-Perez being let out the back door. What was said during the sidebar is reportedly unknown, as Fabricant said Joseph violated conduct rules by not making a record of that portion of the hearing.

Medina-Perez’s defense attorney, David Jellinek, reportedly testified that he asked for the sidebar to be off-the-record, as the topic of the discussion was “right on the edge of acceptable.”

He also reportedly noted that prosecutors had just agreed to drop the charge against Medina-Perez, convincing them he was not the fugitive from justice they were seeking, meaning he would be released on his own recognizance.

During the sidebar, Jellinek reportedly asked Joseph to send Medina-Perez to the downstairs courthouse jail so he could exit through a back door, thereby avoiding the federal agents who were in the lobby on the first floor waiting to arrest him.

“To the best of my recollection, she said then, ‘That’s what we’ll do,”” Jellinek reportedly testified.

Joseph’s lawyer claimed the judge only sent Medina-Perez downstairs so he could speak privately with his attorney and was completely unaware that he had “gone out the back door.”

“She knew nothing about it,” lawyer Elizabeth Mulvey reportedly said, adding that the judge expected ICE to “do its job.”

The case against Joseph grew out of national controversy over sanctuary jurisdictions and turf wars between ICE and judges in those locales who contended that such arrests would discourage noncitizens from showing up for court cases.

Following the incident, Joseph was immediately suspended from the bench and indicted on the aforementioned charges by then-U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Andrew Lelling, who was appointed during Trump’s first term. The charges were dismissed in 2022 by Biden-appointed U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins after Joseph referred herself to the Massachusetts Commission on Judicial Conduct, a forum designed to investigate and address judicial misconduct. Joseph has already made specific factual admissions that the Commission may consider as part of its review in deciding what, if any, disciplinary recommendations it will make.

The judicial conduct panel has charged Joseph with violating its code of conduct by “failing to comply with the law.”

Within 30 days of the hearing, McInerney will issue a report to the Supreme Judicial Court outlining proposed findings and recommended steps going forward. The Supreme Judicial Court makes the ultimate decision on Joseph’s fate and does not have to abide by McInerney’s recommendations.