Wisconsin Judge Hannah Dugan Arrested, Accused of Shielding Immigrant From Federal Agents
F.B.I. agents arrested a county judge in Milwaukee on Friday on charges of obstructing immigration agents by steering an undocumented immigrant through a side door in her courtroom while the agents waited in a public hallway to apprehend him.
The arrest of a sitting state court judge is a major escalation in the Trump administration’s battle with local authorities over deportations. The administration has demanded, under threat of investigation or prosecution, that local officials assist federal efforts to deport millions of undocumented immigrants.
Charging documents describe a confrontation last Friday at Judge Dugan’s courthouse, in which federal agents say she was “visibly upset and had a confrontational, angry demeanor” when a group of immigration, D.E.A. and F.B.I. agents came to arrest Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, a citizen of Mexico who was in her courtroom to face misdemeanor criminal charges.
According to the criminal complaint, the judge confronted the agents and told them to go talk to the chief judge of the courthouse. She then returned to her courtroom.
“Despite having been advised of the administrative warrant for the arrest of Flores-Ruiz, Judge Dugan then escorted Flores-Ruiz and his counsel out of the courtroom through the ‘jury door,’ which leads to a nonpublic area of the courthouse,” said the complaint, which was written by an F.B.I. agent.
The judge was charged with obstructing a proceeding of a federal agency and concealing an individual to prevent his discovery and arrest.
After a brief appearance as a defendant in federal court in Milwaukee, about a mile from her own courthouse, the judge was released on her own recognizance.
The bureau arrested Judge Dugan on suspicion that she “intentionally misdirected federal agents,” F.B.I. Director Kash Patel wrote on social media on Friday, before the charges were unsealed.
Christopher A. Wellborn, the president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, reacted with alarm to the judge’s arrest, saying American democracy “rests upon the independence of the judiciary.”
“Retaliatory action from the executive branch that appears to undermine this foundation demands our unwavering scrutiny and a resounding response,” he added.
The chief judge in Milwaukee County, Carl Ashley, said in a statement that Judge Dugan’s caseload would be handled by another jurist in the courthouse and declined to comment further.
The Trump administration has vowed to investigate and prosecute local officials who do not assist federal immigration enforcement efforts, denouncing what they call “sanctuary cities” for not doing more to assist federal apprehensions and deportations of millions of undocumented immigrants.
The Milwaukee case involves a frequent flashpoint in that debate, when immigration agents try to arrest immigrants who are appearing in state court. Local authorities often chafe at such efforts, arguing they endanger public safety if people dealing with relatively minor legal issues feel it is unsafe to enter courthouses.
In the first Trump administration, a local Massachusetts judge was indicted by the Justice Department on charges of obstructing immigration authorities. The charges were dropped after the judge agreed to refer herself to potential judicial discipline.
That case also involved allegations that a judge allowed a defendant being sought by I.C.E. agents to leave the building via a back door in order to avoid detention. The Massachusetts Judicial Conduct Commission has filed formal disciplinary charges against Judge Shelley Joseph. She has denied wrongdoing.
