Agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested a Milwaukee County Circuit judge on Friday for allegedly abetting an immigrant living in the country illegally from avoiding arrest by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The criminal complaint filed Thursday states that Judge Hannah Dugan was arrested on charges of impeding an immigration arrest and hiding a person to prevent his arrest. Following the arrest Friday morning, FBI Director Kash Patel posted on social media that the agency believed Dugan’s actions were intentional:
“The FBI arrested Judge Hannah Dugan out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin on charges of obstruction — after evidence of Judge Dugan obstructing an immigration arrest operation last week.
“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.”
Arrest ends in foot chase outside courthouse
According to the complaint, the immigrant who was detained is Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, a Mexican man who was charged in March with three counts of battery-domestic abuse-infliction of injury. Agents from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and ICE determined Flores-Ruiz had been issued an expedited removal notice and was deported back to Mexico by U.S. border agents in 2013. No evidence shows that he was given legal permission to reenter the States.
The Milwaukee ICE office was aware of Flores-Ruiz’s court hearing on April 18 before Judge Dugan. Upon arrival at the courthouse with an arrest warrant in hand, the agents explained their situation to a shift sergeant, who apparently requested that any arrest be made after the court hearing concluded.
The filing said that when Dugan learned of the planned arrest she became “visibly angry, commented that the situation was ‘absurd,’ left the bench, and entered chambers.”
This was reportedly the third time an ICE arrest had occurred in the courthouse in recent months.
Dugan left the courtroom to speak with the government agents, as per the filing, instructing them to proceed to the chief judge’s office.
“Judge Dugan’s courtroom deputy then approached the remaining arrest team members and stated that the courtroom deputy was not the one who had notified Judge Dugan about their arrest plans. The courtroom deputy also made a comment about Judge Dugan ‘pushing’ Flores-Ruiz’s case through, which the arrest team interpreted to mean that Judge Dugan was attempting to expedite Flores-Ruiz’s hearing,“ according to the affidavit in support of the criminal complaint.
Multiple witnesses reported seeing Dugan and Flores-Ruiz in close discussion, followed by her escorting him and his counsel through the jury door exit, rather than the public courtroom exit.
The state attorney involved in Flores-Ruiz’s case questioned why the case was never called and discovered through the court that it had been adjourned without his knowledge, despite his presence in court.
Flores-Ruiz was eventually arrested following a foot chase outside the courthouse.
During her hearing Friday morning, Dugan’s attorney said his client “wholeheartedly regrets and protests her arrest. It was not made in the interest of public safety,” per The Associated Press.
Dugan, who has been released from custody, is scheduled to appear in court again on May 15.