PROVIDENCE — FBI agents on Thursday searched a downtown Providence office building that includes the office of a Rhode Island immigration lawyer.
Joseph Molina Flynn, who was also a Municipal Court judge for Central Falls, resigned from the bench after the search, Central Falls Mayor Maria Rivera told the Globe.
“I was deeply concerned to see the reports of an FBI search at the law office of Joseph Molina Flynn,” Rivera said in a statement. “As the Central Falls community knows, transparency and accountability are priorities of mine. In an effort to uphold the integrity and focus of the Municipal Court, Judge Molina Flynn has officially resigned his position.”
Molina Flynn founded the Molina Flynn Law Offices in 2015, focusing on immigration, family, and criminal matters. When he was appointed as municipal court judge in Central Falls in 2021, he became the the first formerly undocumented judge in Rhode Island and the first gay person to hold that seat, according to a Roger Williams University School of Law article.
Rivera said Municipal Court Associate Judge Robert McConnell will serve in Molina Flynn’s place until the vacancy is filled.
A spokesman for the Rhode Island District of the US Attorney’s Office confirmed “court-authorized activity” at the Providence location, as did an FBI spokeswoman for the FBI bureau in Boston, but both declined further comment.
Molina Flynn did not respond to requests for comment Thursday morning.
Molina Flynn, who has been an adjunct law professor at RWU Law, often works with other practitioners as a “crimmigration” consultant, meaning the intersection of criminal and immigration law, according to the RWU Law article.
Molina Flynn came to the United States from Colombia when he was 9 years old, following the arrival of family members including his mother and grandmother, according to a Providence Journal article. He arrived in Central Falls, a small predominantly Latino city, before eventually settling in Pawtucket. He was on a visitors’ visa, which he overstayed, becoming undocumented. He became an American citizen in September 2014, according to the article.
He previously served as president of the Rhode Island Latino Political Action Committee, and on the advisory board of the Latino Policy Institute.
Molina Flynn graduated Johnson & Wales University and the University of Michigan Law School.
Edward Fitzpatrick can be reached at edward.fitzpatrick@globe.com. Follow him @FitzProv.