The Trump administration is making an example out of two former Utah court clerks who attempted to help illegal immigrants sneak out of a courthouse and escape arrest by federal immigration officers and avoid deportation.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin on Thursday threatened to arrest and prosecute anyone caught helping illegal immigrants in court evade arrest from Immigration and Customs Enforcement following a third incident in which a member of the court has tried to help defendants get away from federal police.
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“We’re going to charge those,” Mullin told Fox News Thursday morning when asked about two former Utah state court clerks who are accused of trying to slip an illegal immigrant out of court unbeknownst to ICE.
“If you’re harboring and abetting a criminal, we have zero tolerance for you. Zero. You don’t get to pick and choose which laws you’re going to enforce, just like we don’t pick and choose which laws we’re going to enforce,” Mullin said.
On Wednesday, 27-year-old Jennifer Joma and 26-year-old Lauren Kelsey Morrow were federally indicted for their alleged role in trying to smuggle illegal immigrants out of court to avoid ICE officers who planned to arrest them outside the building.
The former court clerks were charged with conspiracy to transport and harbor illegal immigrants, harboring illegal immigrants, and obstruction of proceedings before departments and agencies. The two are accused of working together to sneak several illegal immigrants out of the courthouse, but the operation was caught on facility cameras.
Joma allegedly transported three illegal immigrants at the courthouse away from the site in an attempt to spare them from being arrested by ICE.
This incident is the third time in President Donald Trump’s second term that a court employee has been accused of trying to help an illegal immigrant escape from ICE.
In December, a Wisconsin judge was convicted for obstruction of justice for trying to help a Mexican illegal immigrant escape ICE during an arrest attempt at a courthouse.
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Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan garnered national attention for her role in trying to keep federal police from taking custody of an illegal immigrant last year.
During Trump’s first term, Massachusetts state Judge Shelley Joseph and court officer Wesley MacGregor were charged with perjury and federal obstruction of justice for trying to help an illegal immigrant evade ICE in court. The charges were later dropped.
