A Massachusetts judge has been formally reprimanded by the state’s highest court for her role in helping an illegal alien avoid federal immigration agents, and a top Department of Homeland Security official says the decision should serve as a warning to jurists elsewhere who might consider doing the same.
Judge Shelley Joseph of the Massachusetts district court received the reprimand from the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court on September 10, according to a Breitbart News exclusive report citing DHS General Counsel James Percival. The court found that Joseph “created an appearance of impropriety in violation of her duties” by having the audio recording of a case shut off, the outlet reported.
Percival told Breitbart that the state court’s rebuke of Joseph should signal to other jurists that similar conduct carries consequences, saying that sanctuary judges are now “on notice.”
“This judicial misconduct reflects what DHS is facing across the country,” Percival said, per Breitbart. “Certain judges think it is their duty to undermine, rather than enforce, federal immigration law. Helping illegal aliens escape from immigration officers is a felony. Sanctuary politicians and sanctuary judges alike are on notice.”
The 2018 Courtroom Incident
The case dates back to April 2018, when an illegal alien identified as Oscar Manuel Peguero — who also used the alias Jose Medina-Perez — appeared in a Massachusetts court after being arrested on drug possession charges. At the time, Peguero also had an outstanding warrant in Pennsylvania for being a fugitive from justice.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents had lodged a detainer against Peguero on the day of his drug-possession arrest, according to the Breitbart account, but that detainer was not honored. In court, with ICE agents positioned outside the courtroom ready to take him into custody, prosecutors say Joseph allowed Peguero to leave through a back exit door to avoid the waiting officers.
The following year, federal authorities charged Joseph with conspiracy to obstruct justice, aiding and abetting obstruction of justice, and aiding and abetting obstruction of a federal proceeding. Those charges were ultimately dismissed by the Biden administration in 2022, though the state judicial ethics process continued independently.
The September 10 reprimand centers on Joseph’s decision to have the audio recording of the proceeding turned off — conduct the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court determined undermined public confidence in the judiciary and violated her obligations as a judge, per Breitbart’s reporting.
A Long History of Illegal Entry and Removal
Peguero’s documented history of illegal immigration stretches back more than two decades, according to the Breitbart account. He first entered the country illegally in January 2003, flying into Boston and claiming to be an American citizen. He was arrested that same month and deported.
Four years later, in April 2007, Peguero illegally crossed the southern border through New Mexico and was apprehended by Border Patrol agents. He was deported a second time in June 2007. At some point thereafter — the exact date is not specified — he crossed the border illegally yet again, eventually ending up in the Massachusetts court system where the 2018 episode unfolded.
Political Fallout and the Sanctuary Debate
The reprimand comes amid continuing friction between federal immigration authorities and state and local jurisdictions that have adopted so-called sanctuary policies limiting cooperation with ICE. Supporters of those policies argue they protect due process and encourage undocumented residents to report crimes without fear of deportation; critics, including Percival and officials across the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement apparatus, contend they obstruct lawful federal operations and shield individuals with serious criminal histories from removal.
Percival’s comments to Breitbart frame the Joseph reprimand less as an isolated ethics matter than as a broader warning shot — a signal that judges who intervene in federal immigration enforcement may face professional consequences even when federal criminal charges do not stick. The DHS general counsel’s remarks also nod to the department’s ongoing frustration with jurisdictions that decline to honor immigration detainers, a long-running complaint among enforcement officials who say such policies force agents to make arrests in sensitive locations or miss targets entirely.
Whether the Massachusetts ruling will influence judicial conduct elsewhere is unclear. Judicial ethics bodies in most states operate independently, and standards for recusal, courtroom procedure, and interaction with federal agents vary widely. Still, the public reprimand of a sitting judge for conduct tied to an immigration case is a rare and notable development, one that enforcement officials are clearly eager to cite as precedent.
For now, the case leaves Joseph with a formal rebuke on her record and no federal charges, while Peguero — a three-time illegal entrant with a drug arrest and an outstanding out-of-state warrant — remains a central figure in a case that has renewed attention on the intersection of state courts and federal immigration enforcement.
The Breitbart report notes that DHS officials view the outcome as one piece of a wider push to deter what they describe as judicial interference in immigration matters, though the department has not announced any new policy or enforcement action tied directly to the Massachusetts decision.
Source: www.breitbart.com — https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2026/09/14/exclusive-dhs-official-sanctuary-judges-on-notice-after-judge-is-reprimanded-for-helping-illegal-alien-evade-ice/