Wisconsin judge Hannah Dugan was indicted by a federal grand jury on Tuesday for allegedly attempting to help an undocumented migrant from being detained by ICE agents.
The indictment accused Dugan of ‘knowingly’ concealing undocumented migrant, Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, so he wouldn’t be discovered and arrested by officers with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Dugan allegedly helped Flores-Ruiz evade arrest when he appeared in her courtroom on April 18 for a pretrial hearing in a domestic abuse case.
Flores-Ruiz was accused of punching someone 30 times in the face after they complained he was playing loud music.
He was charged with three counts of misdemeanor battery for allegedly assaulting three people on March 12.
Flores-Ruiz is a migrant from Mexico. ICE and the Department of Homeland Security said he was deported in 2013 and never sought legal permission to return.
ICE agents in Milwaukee were then alerted to Flores-Ruiz’s hearing on April 18, and agents showed up at the courthouse to arrest him.
Six ICE agents described as wearing ‘generally plain clothes’ arrived at the courthouse and presented their identifications to a security guard, according to a criminal complaint.
Dugan was then allegedly notified of the agents and ‘became visibly angry,’ calling their presence ‘absurd,’ and left the bench.
‘Witnesses uniformly reported that Judge Dugan was visibly upset and had a confrontational, angry demeanor,’ the criminal complaint stated.
Dugan then allegedly asked the officers to leave and informed them they needed a judicial warrant to arrest Flores-Ruiz.
The Wisconsin judge was then accused of directing the agents to the chief judge and helped Flores-Ruiz and his attorney leave through a ‘jury door.’
The affidavit stated Dugan told the migrant and his attorney, ‘wait come with me’ before they left the courthouse, directing them to a back jury door.
The courtroom deputy told investigators that the door is only used for deputies, juries, court staff, and defendants already in custody.
They added that defense attorneys and defendants who weren’t in custody ‘never’ used that door.
Dugan allegedly adjourned the case without the state attorney’s knowledge, according to the criminal complaint.
Flores-Ruiz and his attorney allegedly took an elevator and left the courthouse before ICE agents followed them.
ICE agents saw him outside the courthouse, and he ran away when they approached him.
Flores-Ruiz was apprehended by ICE agents, and Dugan was arrested and charged with obstructing a proceeding of a federal agency and concealing an individual to prevent arrest.
FBI director Kash Patel announced Dugan’s arrest in a statement on X, writing, ‘We believe Judge Dugan intentionally misdirected federal agents away from the subject to be arrested in her courthouse, Eduardo Flores Ruiz, allowing the subject — an illegal alien — to evade arrest.’
‘Thankfully our agents chased down the perp on foot and he’s been in custody since, but the Judge’s obstruction created increased danger to the public.’
Dugan’s lawyers wrote in a statement after her arrest that she ‘asserts her innocence and looks forward to being vindicated in court.’
The case has further ignited tense deportation debates across the country, with representatives and colleagues calling for Dugan’s release.
Over 150 former state and federal judges signed a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi calling Dugan’s arrest an ‘assault on the judiciary, the Rule of Law, and those who administer it.’
Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin stood by Dugan, writing in a statement that the arrest was a ‘gravely serious and drastic move.’
‘Make no mistake, we do not have kings in this country and we are a Democracy governed by laws that everyone must abide by,’ Baldwin previously said.
‘By relentlessly attacking the judicial system, flouting court orders, and arresting a sitting judge, this President is putting those basic Democratic values that Wisconsinites hold dear on the line.’