Jury selection has finished and a federal trial opened Monday for Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan, who is accused of helping a man avoid arrest by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at the county courthouse in April. A grand jury indicted Dugan a month after the incident. She faces one felony count of obstructing a proceeding and a misdemeanor count of concealing an individual to prevent an arrest. Dugan has pleaded not guilty; if convicted she could face up to six years in prison.
Prosecutors say ICE agents went to the courthouse to arrest Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, a Mexican national they determined was in the U.S. unlawfully. Flores-Ruiz was scheduled to appear before Dugan on misdemeanor domestic assault charges on April 18. According to the criminal complaint, when ICE agents arrived Dugan told them they needed a judicial warrant, directed them to leave the hallway and go to the chief judge’s office, then addressed Flores-Ruiz’s case off the record while the agents were in the chief judge’s office. Prosecutors allege she later instructed Flores-Ruiz and his attorney to exit through a nonpublic jury door and told the attorney the defendant could appear by Zoom at his next court date.
Court filings say Flores-Ruiz and his lawyer ultimately appeared in a public hallway where ICE agents saw them. Agents pursued Flores-Ruiz outside the courthouse, arrested him and he was later deported.
Dugan and her attorneys declined to comment to NPR. Before her arraignment, her defense team issued a statement saying Dugan “asserts her innocence and looks forward to being vindicated in court.” In filings, her lawyers argue courthouse policy on immigration enforcement was unsettled at the time and that she was following draft protocols from the chief judge that called for referring ICE agents to a supervisor.
Outside attorneys and legal experts have said the judge’s intent will be central to the case. Tony Cotton, a Wisconsin criminal defense attorney not involved in the matter, said that if Dugan was explaining a different protocol and trying to reduce confrontation, that would be relevant to whether she intended to obstruct. Laurie Levenson, a former federal prosecutor and law professor, put the question similarly: did Dugan seek to conceal someone and impede a proceeding, or was she attempting to manage her courtroom and limit Department of Homeland Security interference?
Observers also note a changing landscape around immigration arrests at courthouses. Levenson and others say that before the Trump administration, courthouses were generally treated as off-limits for immigration arrests to avoid deterring people from attending proceedings, and that increased enforcement in recent years has shifted practice and expectations.
Top Trump administration officials praised the prosecution, and the Department of Homeland Security characterized Dugan on social media as an “activist judge.” Dugan has retained prominent lawyers, including former Republican solicitor general Paul Clement, a move likely aimed at preserving appeal options.
This is not the first time a judge has faced prosecution over alleged assistance to someone avoiding ICE. In 2018 a Massachusetts judge was charged in a similar case; the Justice Department later dropped the felony charges and referred the matter to a judicial conduct commission.