Did Judge and Prosecutor Shield Criminal Illegal Alien From ICE? - Michael Cutler

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by Michael Cutler

Taking judicial over-reach to a new low.

My article today is predicated on the December 2, 2018 Boston Globe report, "ICE agent was in courthouse. Did judge and others help man flee?"

Incredibly, a district court judge is now being investigated by a federal grand jury into her actions earlier this year, when she is believed to have acted, in concert with a prosecutor, to enable an illegal alien from the Dominican Republic to escape justice. As it turned out, the alien was using a false name, had falsely claimed to be a United States citizen at the time of his arrest and had been previously twice deported from the United States.

A detainer had been lodged by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and, at the time, an ICE agent was present in the courthouse waiting to take the alien into custody.

We will get into the details of this outrageous case but first I want to remind you how we have gotten to this point, to set the stage for this latest example of immigration anarchy.

The globalists have worked long and hard to convince politicians from both political parties and judges alike that it is somehow heroic to obstruct the enforcement of our nation’s immigration laws that were enacted to protect national security, public safety, public health and the jobs of American workers.

Furthermore, the 9/11 Commission made it crystal clear that first and foremost, multiple failures of the immigration system not only permitted the 19 hijacker-terrorists who launched the savage attacks on September 11, 2001, but other terrorists the Commission studied as well, to enter the United States and embed themselves.

In spite of this, a growing list of so-called “Sanctuary Cities” and even “Sanctuary States” have openly declared their opposition to the enforcement of our immigration laws.

Members of the Democratic Party have even called for disbanding ICE and have even vilified ICE agents. New York’s Governor Cuomo has publicly referred to ICE agents as “thugs"!

There has been no shortage of reports of judges overstepping their authority and, as has come to be known, have “legislated from the bench” particularly where the enforcement of our immigration laws are concerned.

Since his election, President Trump has had his efforts to enforce our immigration laws stymied and blocked by a number of federal judges, particularly regarding DACA and the supposed “Travel Ban.”

I addressed these examples of judicial overreach in a number of my recent articles:

Federal Judge Blocks Trump’s Asylum Ban On Illegal Aliens  

Judge’s ruling ignores Constitution, 9/11 Commission Report and common-sense.

DACA Ruling:  Judicial Travesty Obstructs Presidential Authority

Fed. Judge Bates’ ruling ignores facts and national security.

Courting Disaster: Supreme Court Decides Against Homeland Security

Court guts presidential authority to prevent the entry of terrorists.

Incredibly, some judges have also attempted to prevent ICE agents from making arrests in courthouses.  The safest place to take an individual into custody is often in a courthouse because all who enter there are carefully screened to make certain that they are unarmed. This protects the public, the agents and even the alien who is to be arrested. I speak from direct experience; when I was an INS agent I frequently arrested aliens in courthouses.

Let us remember that our immigration laws were duly enacted the very same way that all federal laws were enacted. Judges are supposed to enforce our laws dispassionately and objectively.

Our laws are not to be regarded the way a patron of a restaurant peruses the menu of offerings picking and choosing the items that appeal to that patron.

Time and again the globalist immigration/anarchists fatuously claim that our immigration laws are “Unconstitutional.”

They need to read Article IV, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution, which states:

The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence.

Now we come to the case that prompted me to write this article.

The newspaper report I cited above began by describing the conversation purportedly conducted at the sidebar among Newton District Court District Judge Shelley M. Joseph, the defense attorney representing Jose Medina-Perez an illegal alien from the Dominican Republic and Middlesex County prosecutor Shannon Jurgens.

Their conversation focused on how they should deal with the fact that Medina-Perez was facing deportation from the United States, a detainer had been lodged by ICE and, in fact, an ICE agent was in the courthouse waiting to take the defendant into custody.

Medina-Perez was arrested by Newton Police on drug charges and he also faced a fugitive warrant incidental to having been previously stopped for drunk driving in Pennsylvania.

Here is an excerpt from the news article:

“ICE is going to get him,” the judge told the attorneys during the April 2 sidebar conversation. “What if we continue [the case]?” she suggested, before instructing a clerk to turn off the courtroom’s audio recorder. Whatever was said during the next 58 seconds went unrecorded.

Minutes later, Medina-Perez was escorted downstairs, released from custody, and allowed out a back door, according to two people briefed on the episode. He scaled a fence and took off, leaving the immigration agent behind, the people said.

The following excerpt from the news report that includes the conversation among the judge the defense attorney and the prosecutor is particularly disturbing.

Their conversation — only occasionally audible on the recording — focused on the defendant’s immigration issue and whether he was the same person wanted on the fugitive warrant from Pennsylvania.

“ICE is convinced that this guy . . .” his lawyer, Jellinek said, his voice trailing off. “ICE will pick him up if he walks out the front door. But I think the best thing for us to do is clear the fugitive issue and release him . . . ”

The prosecutor chimed in: “There is a detainer attached to my paperwork, but I felt like that’s separate and apart from what my role is.”

“ICE is going to get him,” the judge said, before asking the clerk to go off the record, and halting the courtroom recording.

The defendant in this case, Jose Medina-Perez, was identified as a fugitive who had failed to appear for a court appearance previously, demonstrating that he was a flight risk a risk that was demonstrably increased when it was discovered that he had allegedly used two false names and had reportedly made a false claim to U.S. citizenship at the time of his arrest.

Making a false claim to U.S. citizenship is a felony under federal law (18 U.S. Code § 911) that carries a maximum penalty of 3 years in prison.

The judge, with the apparent assistance of the prosecutor, both of whom were so determined to shield him from deportation that they apparently decided to postpone his criminal case and found a way to dispose of a fugitive warrant issued by authorities in Pennsylvania. He was then surreptitiously hustled out of the courthouse and freedom, short-lived as it turned out to be.

Shortly after Medina-Perez made his “great escape,” with the apparent assistance of the judge and the prosecutor, he was arrested again in Roslindale in April but was once again released on bond by an immigration judge despite the fact that he was reportedly deported in January 2003 and June 2007 and had used a false name. According to immigration records his real name is Oscar Manuel Peguero.

Additionally, he had reportedly claimed to be a U.S. citizen when he was arrested and charged with possession of drugs. Finally, at the time of his arrest, the federal database showed that he had used an additional false alias, Julio Alexis Rios.

There is absolutely nothing sympathetic about this individual. He has shown utter contempt for the borders and the laws of the United States of the United States, yet a judge and a prosecutor are alleged to have committed potential felonies to assist him in evading immigration law enforcement.  Such actions not only may constitute obstruction of justice but a violation of 8 U.S. Code § 1324 which, in part states:

(iii) knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that an alienhas come to, entered, or remains in the United States in violation of law, conceals, harbors, or shields from detection, or attempts to conceal, harbor, or shield from detection, such alien in any place, including any building or any means of transportation

The newspaper report also noted that this is not an isolated case but that there have been previous instances where illegal aliens have been shielded from detention by ICE by other judges.

Consider this excerpt from the article:

Last year, the court’s presiding judge, Mary Beth Heffernan, freed a previously deported immigrant from the Dominican Republic accused of raping a Boston College student. The man, Luis Baez, drove for Uber using a fake name. Heffernan rejected prosecutors’ request for $100,000 bail, setting a bail of $2,500, which the accused paid, and then fled.

Each and every such case must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law possible, with serious jail time imposed.

Obstructing immigration law enforcement undermines national security and public safety and the punishment must fit the crime.

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Photo Courtesy of ICE

Michael Cutler

Source: https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/272185/did-judge-and-prosecutor-shield-criminal-illegal-michael-cutler

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