Speaking of being above the law?

Massachusetts Judge and Court Officer Indicted for Allegedly Helping Illegal Immigrant Evade ICE

Thursday, Massachusetts District Court Judge Shelley M. Richmond Joseph and now retired Court Officer Wesley MacGregor were indicted on one count of obstruction of justice in relation to allegations from 2018 in which the pair is accused of helping an illegal immigrant sneak out the back of the courthouse to avoid arrest by ICE officials who’d arrived to arrest the individual. MacGregor was also charged with perjury.

This is one of those situations where the idea of sanctuary of illegal immigrants is taken a bit too far. While it is one thing to refuse to notify ICE that a wanted illegal immigrant is going to be released or is otherwise available to be detained, it's quite another to actively help someone basically flee being arrested. The fact that this was done by a Judge (someone sworn to the law) is an example of how our legal system is basically falling apart over extreme political partisanship and ideology.

In this case, the ICE official notified the court that he would be there, and that he would be taking the accused into custody as soon as the hearing was over. This is literally no different than any member of any law enforcement team (local police, state police, FBI) who has jurisdiction to take custody of someone appearing in court. No Judge, in a thousand years, would help a wanted suspect flee arrest from a sheriff, police officer, or Federal agent. So why did this Judge believe it was within his authority to help this person avoid being taken into custody.

The reality is that the person was standing trial for drug crimes, and had a pending arrest warrant in another state. Seems like a legitimate reason for ICE to pick him up. But the ICE officer was ordered by the Judge to leave the courtroom and told to wait in the lobby. The Judge had a sidebar that was at some point determined to be "off the record" (and the audio was shut off). Shortly after, the Court officer escorted the defendant and his attorney through the back of the courtroom, and eventually the Court officer used his security access card to allow the defendant and his attorney to leave out the back "sally-port exit".