Two former Utah court clerks were arrested after federal prosecutors say they helped an illegal alien slip past ICE at the Logan City Municipal Justice Court, triggering an indictment and scheduled federal court proceedings.
Federal authorities say Jennifer Joma, 27, and Lauren Kelsey Morrow, 26, both of Logan, Utah, were indicted on June 3, 2026, after an incident reported to have occurred on April 9, 2026. The indictment alleges the pair used their positions as state court clerks to interfere with immigration enforcement. Local officials and federal agents were involved once the alleged conduct came to light.
According to court documents, an ICE Enforcement and Removal Officer, described as an ICE-ERO, had an administrative warrant for an individual who was at the Logan City Municipal Justice Court for a hearing. The ICE officer left the secure area, waited outside in his vehicle, and planned to take the subject into custody when they exited the courthouse. That plan allegedly never came to fruition because of intervention from inside the court.
Prosecutors allege Joma and Morrow used court databases improperly to identify people on the docket who were not U.S. citizens. With that information, the complaint says, they located at least four non-citizen defendants and assisted them in leaving the courthouse by a back exit so ICE could not detain them. The allegations describe a deliberate effort to track and then evade enforcement actions using privileged access to court systems.
The indictment further alleges the two escorted individuals through secure corridors and multiple hallways before exiting the building out of view of ICE officers. Surveillance footage cited in the charging papers reportedly shows the women smiling and waving at a camera after one trip, and making an obscene gesture toward the camera on another. Prosecutors also allege that on a separate run, one of the clerks drove off with three non-citizens in her car, then returned alone to continue working.
Joma and Morrow face federal counts that include conspiracy to transport and harbor illegal aliens, harboring illegal aliens, and obstruction of proceedings before departments and agencies, with an additional charge for Joma for transporting illegal aliens. The federal complaint lays out alleged conduct that spans deliberate database queries, physical assistance moving people through the courthouse, and actions meant to thwart a federal arrest. Their initial appearance on the indictment is scheduled for June 11, 2026, at 10:15 a.m. in courtroom 8.4 at the Orrin G. Hatch United States District Courthouse in downtown Salt Lake City.
United States Attorney Melissa Holyoak of the District of Utah announced the indictment, and federal investigators from Homeland Security Investigations are handling the probe. Assistant United States Attorney Todd Bouton of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Utah is listed as the prosecutor on the case. Local and federal partners coordinate these types of investigations when alleged interference with immigration enforcement involves court personnel.
This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. An indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
