A federal grand jury indicted two former Utah state court clerks on June 3, 2026, charging them with conspiring to obstruct an Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrest at a Logan courthouse [1]. The indictment was unsealed June 11, 2026 [1]. The defendants, Jennifer Joma and Lauren Kelsey Morrow, face counts of conspiracy to transport and harbor illegal aliens, harboring illegal aliens, and obstruction of proceedings before a federal agency [1].
Prosecutors allege that Joma and Morrow used their positions inside the Logan courthouse to help a person present in the country without legal status evade ICE agents who had arrived to execute an arrest [1]. The obstruction charge rests on 8 U.S.C. § 1324, the federal alien harboring statute, along with the federal obstruction provision covering interference with agency proceedings. The case was brought by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Utah, operating in coordination with ICE [1]. Both defendants have since left their court clerk positions [1].
The indictment fits within a pattern of federal enforcement actions targeting state and local government employees accused of impeding immigration operations. Since 2025, the Department of Justice has pursued obstruction cases against court personnel in several jurisdictions, signaling that official position does not insulate defendants from prosecution. The Logan courthouse incident is among the most direct examples yet of charges filed against clerks, rather than judges or prosecutors, for alleged interference with civil immigration enforcement.
Both defendants face substantial federal exposure. The harboring and conspiracy counts each carry maximum sentences of five years imprisonment under 8 U.S.C. § 1324(a)(1)(B)(i), and the obstruction count carries an additional penalty tier depending on the specific subsection applied. No trial date has been publicly scheduled as of the indictment's unsealing [1].