Wisconsin judge convicted of obstruction after shielding unauthorized immigrant from federal agents
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A jury found a Wisconsin judge accused of helping a Mexican immigrant dodge federal authorities guilty of obstruction Thursday, marking a victory for U.S. President Donald Trump as he continues his sweeping immigration crackdown across the country.
Federal prosecutors charged Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan with obstruction, a felony, and concealing an individual to prevent arrest, a misdemeanour, in April. The jury acquitted her on the concealment count, but she still faces up to five years in prison on the obstruction count.
The jury returned the verdicts after deliberating for six hours. It was not yet clear when sentencing might occur.
The case inflamed tensions over Trump’s immigration crackdown, with his administration branding Dugan an activist judge and Democrats countering that the administration was trying to make an example of Dugan to blunt judicial opposition to the operation.
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Dugan and her attorneys left the courtroom, ducked into a side conference room and closed the door without speaking to reporters. Steve Biskupic, her lead attorney, later told reporters that he was disappointed with the ruling and didn’t understand how the jury could have reached a split verdict since the elements of both charges were virtually the same.
“I would just say the case is a long way from over,” said Biskupic.
Dugan, who was suspended from her job in the wake of the controversy, did not take the stand during the four-day trial.
U.S. Attorney Brad Schimel denied the case was political and urged people to accept the verdict peacefully. He said courthouse arrests are safer because people are screened for weapons and it isn’t unfair for law enforcement to arrest wanted people in courthouses.
“Some have sought to make this about a larger political battle,” Schimel said. “While this case is serious for all involved, it is ultimately about a single day, a single bad day, in a public courthouse. The defendant is certainly not evil. Nor is she a martyr for some greater cause.”
U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche praised the verdict on X, saying nobody is above the law, even judges.
It was a victory for the Trump administration, which has suffered setbacks in bids to prosecute public figures who have been Trump critics, including former FBI director James Comey and New York State Attorney General Letitia James. The Trump administration has also been rebuffed by courts which have rejected a handful of people judges have said were improperly installed as U.S. attorneys.
Mexican man deported last month
According to a court filings that include an FBI affidavit and a federal grand jury indictment, immigration authorities travelled to the Milwaukee County courthouse on April 18 after learning 31-year-old Eduardo Flores-Ruiz had reentered the country illegally and was scheduled to appear before Dugan for a hearing in a state battery case.
Dugan learned that agents were in the corridor outside her courtroom waiting for Flores-Ruiz. She left the courtroom to confront them, falsely telling them their administrative warrant for Flores-Ruiz wasn’t sufficient grounds to arrest him and directing them to go to the chief judge’s office.
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U.S. officials arrested Hannah Dugan, a Milwaukee County circuit judge, on Friday and charged her with helping a man in her court evade immigration authorities. Supporters of the judge gathered outside the federal court where she appeared to face charges, and criticized the Trump administration in its escalating dispute with local officials over immigration enforcement. ‘This is incorrect. This is immoral,’ said Casey Serrano with the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression.
While the agents were gone, she addressed Flores-Ruiz’s case off the record, told his attorney that he could attend his next hearing via Zoom and led Flores-Ruiz and the attorney out a private jury door. Agents spotted Flores-Ruiz in the corridor, followed him outside and arrested him after a foot chase.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced in November he had been deported.
Prosecutors worked during Dugan’s trial to show that she directed agents to the chief judge’s office to create an opening for Flores-Ruiz to escape.
An FBI agent who led the investigation testified that after agents left the corridor, she immediately moved Flores-Ruiz’s case to the top of her docket, told him that he could appear for his next hearing via Zoom and led him out the private door.
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Prosecutors also played audio recordings from her courtroom in which she can be heard telling her court reporter that she’d take “the heat” for leading Flores-Ruiz out the back.
A colleague of Dugan’s testified Tuesday that she was shocked by her fellow judge’s behavior.
“Judges shouldn’t help defendants evade arrest,” said Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Kristela Cervera.
Her attorneys countered that she was trying to follow courthouse protocols that called for court employees to report any immigration agents to their supervisors and she didn’t intentionally try to obstruct the arrest team.
The defence presented for less than an hour, though some of its witnesses were not present for the events at hand. Defence witnesses included Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, who called Dugan “extremely honest.”
