Hannah Dugan, the ex-judge in Wisconsin who was convicted of violating the law by interfering with an Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation to arrest and detain and illegal alien, was punished with a slap on the hand, more or less.
WND multiple times reported on the case against Dugan, who was fined $5,000 for her attempt to help a man living in the U.S. illegally avoid immigration officers.
She was described as having misdirected ICE officers, then allowing the defendant and his lawyer to escape from a courtroom through a nonpublic door.
She claimed her actions fell within her judicial duties and she therefore was exempt from any punishment at all.
Now another judge has gotten another handslap for a similar event.
A report at Fox News said the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court “publicly rebuked” a lower court judge for “her role in a case involving an illegal immigrant who evaded arrest by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.”
It was Shelley Joseph, who triggered the reprimand when in 2018 “Jose Medina-Perez left the Newton District Court through a rear courthouse exit all while an ICE officer was waiting in the lobby to take him into custody.”
The ruling focused on a sidebar between the judge and Medina-Perez’s lawyer and a prosecutor.
During that time Joseph ordered her clerk to shut off the courtroom’s record system.
Massachusetts’ highest court publicly reprimanded Judge Shelley Joseph for actions tied to a case where an illegal immigrant evaded ICE. https://t.co/EXKPTMvkop pic.twitter.com/1de9tMNpmm
— Drew Grimaldi (@Grimillionaire) September 11, 2026
Massachusetts’ highest court has issued a public reprimand of state district court Judge Shelley Joseph for her part in the escape from the courthouse of a suspect wanted by ICE in 2018. https://t.co/0eXwIbrNaf
— Boston Herald (@bostonherald) September 10, 2026
Top Court Reprimands Judge for Aiding Immigrant’s Escape from ICE.
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has formally reprimanded Judge Shelley Joseph over her involvement in a case where an illegal immigrant evaded ICE custody, citing her actions as creating an appearance of… pic.twitter.com/2W43VDvxQO
— The National Pulse (@TheNatPulse) September 11, 2026
“The respondent’s statements during that conversation, including her proposal to detain Medina-Perez overnight in state custody, and her conduct in instructing the clerk to turn off the courtroom audio recording system, created an appearance of impropriety in violation of her duties,” the higher court concluded.
A hearing officer for the state Commission on Judicial Conduct had recommended such an action, the report said.
The ruling also claimed Joseph was unaware Medina-Perez’s attorney, David Jellinek, had “devised a plan to help his client evade ICE by escorting him to the courthouse lockup, where the court officer would release him through a rear sally port exit. The court also found that Joseph neither explicitly nor implicitly approved of that plan,” Fox reported.
Medina-Perez was being arraigned on a fugitive from justice count out of Pennsylvania.
Joseph ruled there wasn’t enough evidence to link the defendant to the Pennsylvania case, and released Medina-Perez. A year later, Joseph and the court officer who let Medina-Perez out through the back door were indicted on charges of obstruction of justice.
The charge later was dropped, as the judge promised to refer herself to the state commission that investigates judicial misconduct.
That body found the judge “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,” the report said.
The judge also was suspended from her job for three years.
She now works in the Boston Municipal Court.
