A Milwaukee County judge was taken into custody by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Friday, following allegations that she assisted an immigrant, who is not legally in the U.S., in evading U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
In a post on X that was immediately deleted and then republished a while later, FBI Director Kash Patel said agents had evidence that Judge Hannah Dugan “intentionally misdirected federal agents away from the subject to be arrested in her courthouse.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi also confirmed the arrest on X.
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The Scripps News Group in Milwaukee spoke with law enforcement officials who said Dugan was arrested around 8:30 a.m. in the courthouse parking lot by FBI agents and subsequently transferred to the custody of the U.S. Marshals.
Dugan was released from custody later on Friday after appearing in U.S. District Court. She was charged with obstructing or impeding a proceeding before a United States department or agency and concealing an individual to prevent their discovery and arrest, according to a criminal complaint.
A note posted on the door of Dugan’s courtroom Friday morning read, “If any attorney, witness coordinator, or other court official knows or believes that a person feels unsafe coming to the courthouse to courtroom 615, please notify the Branch 31 clerk to request court appearance via Zoom.”
According to court documents, Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, a native of Mexico, had a court appearance on April 18 for charges of battery/domestic abuse before Judge Dugan.
Six agents from ICE, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the FBI learned of his court appearance and obtained a warrant for his arrest as part of Enforcement and Removal Operations.
A criminal complaint for Dugan said that Flores-Ruiz was previously deported back to Mexico in 2013 and did not have authorization to be back in the U.S.
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On the day of Flores-Ruiz's hearing, the group of agents went to the courthouse with the intention to take him into custody and notified the courtroom deputy before posting up in varying positions in the hallway outside of Dugan's courtroom.
Upon learning of the agents' presence outside of her courtroom, Dugan left the bench and then confronted the agents in the hallway in an "angry demeanor," according to the criminal complaint.
Dugan instructed the agents to speak with the chief judge about executing the warrant and escorted part of the arrest team to the chief judge's office.
While most of the arrest team was in the chief judge's office speaking with him on the phone, witnesses in the courtroom reported seeing Dugan speaking with Flores-Ruiz's defense counsel while he sat in the jury box instead of the gallery. The criminal complaint pointed out that this is not normal protocol, as the jury box is typically reserved for a jury.
When Flores-Ruiz and his attorney began walking toward the public courtroom exit, Dugan allegedly directed them to leave through a door that is reserved for jury members, court staff, deputies and defendants who are in custody instead, according to the complaint.
Agents that were not in the chief judge's office saw Flores-Ruiz and his counsel enter the hallway outside of the courtroom and followed him out of the courthouse before identifying themselves as law enforcement and attempting to arrest him. The complaint stated he was ultimately taken into custody after a foot chase.
Dugan is currently in her ninth year as a Milwaukee County Circuit Court judge, primarily overseeing cases in the misdemeanor division, according to the court's website.
U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) released the following statement upon learning of Dugan's arrest: “In the United States, we have a system of checks and balances and separations of power for damn good reasons. The President’s administration arresting a sitting judge is a gravely serious and drastic move, and it threatens to breach those very separations of power. Make no mistake, we do not have kings in this country and we are a Democracy governed by laws that everyone must abide by. 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. While details of this exact case remain minimal, this action fits into the deeply concerning pattern of this President's lawless behavior and undermining courts and Congress's checks on his power.”
