Two clerks at a Logan, Utah courthouse were indicted on federal charges after allegedly using court databases to identify and route illegal aliens out a back door while an ICE officer waited inside with a warrant.
Jennifer Joma, 27, and Lauren Kelsey Morrow, 26, both former employees of the Logan City Municipal Justice Court, were arrested after a federal grand jury returned an indictment on June 3. They face counts of conspiracy to transport and harbor illegal aliens, harboring illegal aliens, and obstruction of federal immigration proceedings. Joma faces an additional count of transporting illegal aliens. Both made their initial appearance June 11 at the Orrin G. Hatch United States District Courthouse in Salt Lake City.
The alleged conduct unfolded April 9, according to the Department of Justice, when an ICE Enforcement and Removal Officer arrived at the Logan courthouse carrying an administrative warrant for an illegal alien who was there for a scheduled court hearing. Prosecutors say Joma and Morrow went to work the moment ICE walked in. They pulled up court databases, checked the immigration status of every person listed on that day's docket, and identified multiple illegal aliens before the officer could locate his target.
What prosecutors describe next is not a split-second decision born of confusion. According to the indictment, the two clerks led multiple illegal aliens through a secured area, down several hallways, and out a back door, with ICE's intended target among those who walked free. Surveillance cameras caught both women near the exit afterward, waving and smiling at the lens. Morrow went further: she turned toward the camera and raised her middle finger, court documents say. Then both returned to their desks.
They went again. On a second trip, Joma drove three illegal aliens away from the courthouse in her personal vehicle before coming back to resume her shift, prosecutors allege.
The obstruction count matters as much as the harboring and transporting charges. Federal law makes it a crime to impede proceedings before a federal department or agency, and prosecutors are using it here to argue that Joma and Morrow did not simply fail to assist ICE but actively defeated a lawful warrant while on duty as court employees with access to sealed databases. The harboring charge alone carries up to five years under federal statute.
Attorney General Pam Bondi has made prosecuting immigration obstruction a stated priority, and the DOJ has moved against officials at multiple levels of local government for interfering with ICE operations since January 2025. The Logan case is notable because the alleged obstruction unfolded inside an active courthouse, with a federal officer on the premises and warrant in hand, while court employees used their own institutional access to route targets around him.
Logan City officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Logan City Municipal Justice Court removed both women from their positions after the indictment was unsealed. Neither Joma nor Morrow has made a public statement through counsel as of June 12.
Not an Isolated Case
Utah is not a sanctuary state. Cache County, where Logan sits, has not adopted formal policies against cooperating with federal immigration authorities. That removes the easy framing of a local jurisdiction asserting policy independence. What prosecutors are alleging is two line-level employees deciding, on their own initiative, to obstruct a federal operation unfolding inside their building.
The DOJ has pursued that theory in other jurisdictions since early 2025, bringing obstruction charges against local officials accused of tipping off or physically helping illegal aliens evade ICE. The Logan indictment pushes that enforcement posture further down the chain than most prior cases, targeting courthouse workers rather than elected officials or administrators.
Both women are presumed innocent. If convicted on all counts, they face the prospect of years in federal prison. A trial date has not been set, and the case now moves toward arraignment in Salt Lake City.
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