Court Clerks Accused of Helping ICE Target Escape
By SyndicatedNews | SNN.BZ
Two former Utah court clerks have been federally indicted for allegedly using their courthouse access to help people evade immigration authorities. Jennifer Joma, 27, and Lauren Kelsey Morrow, 26, both of Logan, were charged in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah after an incident at the Logan City Municipal Justice Court. The five-page federal indictment was filed June 3, 2026, and subsequently unsealed following their arrests.
Jennifer and Lauren’s gofundme.com
According to the indictment, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement Enforcement and Removal Operations officer entered the courthouse on April 9, 2026, intending to arrest an individual identified in court papers only as J.G. The officer reportedly possessed an administrative immigration warrant and knew that the person would be attending a scheduled court hearing. At the judge’s request, the officer allegedly agreed not to make the arrest inside the courtroom and instead waited outside for the individual to leave.
Federal prosecutors allege that after Joma and Morrow learned why the ICE officer was present, they began trying to determine whom the officer intended to arrest. The government claims the clerks searched Utah’s UCJIS/BCI court database for personal information about people appearing on that day’s docket, including their countries of birth. The searches allegedly identified several people whom the clerks believed might be the officer’s target.
The women are accused of intercepting those individuals as they left the courtroom and leading them through secure, nonpublic portions of the courthouse. Prosecutors say the group was directed through hallways and a maintenance area before leaving through a back door where the ICE officer could not see them. The government alleges that the officer’s intended target was among those escorted from the building.
The Justice Department’s account of the case adds a particularly provocative detail: after one trip through the back entrance, surveillance footage allegedly captured Joma and Morrow smiling and waving toward a security camera. Prosecutors further claim that Morrow raised her middle finger toward the camera. The images and the government’s description of them are evidence offered by prosecutors; their meaning and legal significance remain subject to challenge in court.
Joma is separately accused of arranging to meet three individuals outside the courthouse and driving them away in her personal vehicle before returning to work. A more detailed government detention filing acknowledges that one of the people initially suspected of being unlawfully present appeared to be a lawful permanent resident. That qualification could become important because the indictment nevertheless alleges that Joma and Morrow acted knowingly, or with reckless disregard, concerning the immigration status of the people they assisted.
Both defendants face charges of conspiracy to transport and harbor undocumented immigrants, harboring undocumented immigrants, and obstructing proceedings before a federal department or agency. Joma alone faces an additional charge of transporting undocumented immigrants. The criminal case is docketed as United States v. Jennifer Joma and Lauren Morrow, No. 1:26-cr-00031-HCN, and is assigned to U.S. District Judge Howard C. Nielson Jr.
Joma and Morrow have pleaded not guilty to the charges. Their attorneys emphasized that the women had no prior criminal histories, while prosecutors characterized the alleged conduct as an abuse of public trust and an intentional obstruction of lawful immigration enforcement. An indictment represents accusations approved for prosecution by a grand jury—not proof of guilt—and both defendants remain presumed innocent unless the government proves every element of the charges beyond a reasonable doubt.
