A federal grand jury indicted Wisconsin judge Hannah Dugan on Tuesday on charges of helping an immigrant living in the country illegally to evade immigration officers who were looking to arrest him.
The grand jury hit Dugan, a Milwaukee County Circuit Court judge, with two counts. She was accused of “knowingly” concealing a migrant and telling U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that they needed a warrant to carry out their search. Dugan was also charged with directing the migrant and his counsel to leave the courtroom through a “non-public” jury door to avoid immigration authorities.
If convicted on both counts listed in the two-page indictment, she could face up to six years in prison.
“As she said after her unnecessary arrest, Judge Dugan asserts her innocence and looks forward to being vindicated in court,” Craig Mastantuono, the attorney representing the judge, said in a statement to NBC News on Tuesday.
Dugan was arrested in late April amid a probe into whether she helped Eduardo Flores-Ruiz avoid arrest by Trump administration authorities. She was hit with charges related to obstructing a proceeding and concealing an individual to prevent their arrest. The justice was released on a bond.
Days later, the Wisconsin Supreme Court temporarily suspended Dugan, writing that “it is in the public interest that she be temporarily relieved of her official duties.”
Flores-Ruiz, a Mexican national, was arrested after being set to appear in Dugan’s courtroom on three misdemeanor counts of battery.
When ICE agents showed up at Dugan’s courthouse on April 18 with a warrant, they were told by Dugan that they needed more information and had to talk with the chief judge before proceeding with their arrest, the court documents showed.
“Judge Dugan became visibly angry, commented that the situation was ‘absurd,’ left the bench, and entered chambers,” an affidavit filed by the FBI said. “At the time, Flores-Ruiz was seated in the gallery of the courtroom.”
The case is just one example of the Trump administration’s battle with the courts in his first few months back in office, many of which are focused on his robust immigration crackdown.
