A Milwaukee judge was detained by the FBI on Friday on charges of aiding an immigrant’s evasion of immigration officials, further inflaming tensions between the Trump administration and the court over the Republican president’s massive crackdown on immigration.
Judge Hannah Dugan of the Milwaukee County Circuit Court was arrested, according to FBI Director Kash Patel’s social media announcement. Judge Dugan “intentionally misdirected” federal officials from apprehending a suspect at her courthouse last week.
“The judge’s obstruction increased danger to the public, but thankfully our agents chased down the perp on foot and he’s been in custody since,” Patel wrote.
U.S. Marshals Service spokeswoman Brady McCarron confirmed that Dugan was apprehended by the FBI on Friday morning while on the courtroom premises. She was freed from detention after a brief appearance in federal court in Milwaukee later on Friday. May 15 is the day of her next court appearance.
Judge Dugan strongly objects to her detention and expresses her deepest remorse. During the hearing, her attorney Craig Mastantuono stated that the decision was not made with the public’s safety in mind. After her court appearance, he refused to speak with a reporter from the Associated Press.
“Concealing an individual to prevent his discovery and arrest” and “obstructing or impeding a proceeding” are the charges against Dugan. According to an FBI complaint submitted in court, she is suspected of helping to prevent Eduardo Flores-arrest Ruiz’s by guiding him and his lawyer out of the courthouse through the jury door on April 18.
According to the affidavit, Dugan’s clerk was notified by an attorney that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers seemed to be in the corridor, so she told Dugan that they were in the courthouse.
The document states that upon seeing immigration officers arrive at the courthouse, Dugan became “visibly angry” and labeled the scenario “absurd” before stepping down from the bench and retiring to her chambers. Afterwards, she and another judge allegedly approached the arrest team inside the courthouse, acting in a “confrontational, angry demeanor,” according to witnesses.
The officer informed her that the warrant was administrative in nature when she inquired as to whether it was a court warrant. According to the complaint, following a dispute about the warrant, she reportedly ordered the arrest team to meet with the chief judge and then escorted them out of the courtroom.
According to investigators, after sending the arrest team to the chief judge’s office, Dugan went back to the courtroom and allegedly said something like “wait, come with me” before leading Flores-Ruiz and his attorney into a private section of the courthouse through a jury door. “Only deputies, juries, court staff, and in-custody defendants being escorted by deputies used the back jury door,” the document states, making the conduct exceptional. Anyone representing a defendant who was not already in custody was not allowed to use the jury door.
The president’s unilateral orders on immigration and other issues have stoked a simmering dispute between the Trump administration and the court, which has culminated in Dugan’s arrest. Officials in the Trump administration have been quite critical of what they term “activist” judges, who they assert have improperly interfered with the president’s executive powers by halting several of his initiatives.
A “gravely serious and drastic move” that “threatens to breach” the division of authority between the executive and judicial departments was described by U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, a Democrat from Wisconsin, as the arrest of a sitting judge.
Baldwin made it clear in an email statement that the United States is a democracy with rules that everyone must follow and that the country does not have monarchs. “Those basic Democratic values that Wisconsinites hold dear are being put on the line by this president’s relentless attacks on the judicial system, flouting court orders, and arresting a sitting judge.”
A judge in Massachusetts faced comparable charges during the first Trump administration for allegedly assisting an individual in escaping from a courthouse through an unguarded rear entrance in order to dodge an immigration enforcement official who was waiting outside.
When the case was brought to light, many in the legal world were outraged and accused the prosecution of being politically motivated. In 2022, under the Democratic Biden administration, prosecutors dropped all charges against Newton District Judge Shelley Joseph. This was in response to her agreement to report herself to a state organization that reviews claims of wrongdoing by judges.
There have been hints that local authorities who oppose federal immigration measures would face consequences from the Justice Department.
State and municipal officials who hinder or impede federal responsibilities may face criminal penalties, according to an order from the department issued in January, which prosecutors are now investigating. A letter included a conspiracy charge and a statute that forbids the sheltering of those in the nation illegally as possible grounds for punishment.
“No one is above the law,” Attorney General Pam Bondi stated in a social media post on Friday.
Branch 31 of the county court was filled by Dugan in 2016. According to her CV as a judicial candidate, she has also worked in the civil and probate divisions of the court.
Legal Aid Society and Legal Action of Wisconsin were Dugan’s employers before he ran for public office. Her academic credentials include a J.D. from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1987 and a BA from the same institution in 1981.