Wisconsin Supreme Court suspends Judge Hannah Dugan after arrest for allegedly shielding immigrant

Milwaukee-area judge was arrested by FBI and hit with federal charges

The Supreme Court of Wisconsin has suspended Hannah Dugan, a Milwaukee-area judge who was arrested last week after being accused of attempting to prevent an undocumented defendant from being arrested by immigration agents outside her courtroom.

“It is in the public interest that she be temporarily relieved of her official duties,” the state supreme court wrote in an order on Tuesday.

The FBI arrested Dugan, a long-time judge for the Milwaukee County Circuit Court, on Friday.

She’s charged with concealing an individual to prevent their discovery or arrest and obstructing or impeding a proceeding.

“We believe Judge Dugan intentionally misdirected federal agents away from the subject to be arrested in her courthouse, Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, allowing the subject — an illegal alien — to evade arrest,” FBI Director Kash Patel said last week.

On April 18, a group of six federal officials appeared at the courthouse to detain Flores-Ruiz, a Mexican national slated for deportation, according to court documents obtained by The Independent.

Dugan is accused of leading wanted man to side area of courtroom to evade immigration arrest (AP)

A public defender snapped photos of the waiting agents and alerted a clerk for the judge.

Dugan reportedly told the agents to speak with a chief judge about their operation, then adjourned a planned hearing for Flores-Ruiz, leading him through a side door to a non-public area of the courthouse, according to the documents.

Flores-Ruiz later attempted to leave the courthouse, but was spotted by a Drug Enforcement Administration agent and arrested.

Dugan’s attorney has said she “wholeheartedly regrets and protests her arrest” and described it as “not made in the interest of public safety.”

“While all the facts are not yet in, the implications of this arrest are chilling,” Democratic congressman Jamie Raskin, the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, said in a statement after the arrest. “This is a drastic escalation & dangerous new front in Trump’s authoritarian campaign of trying to bully, intimidate & impeach judges who won’t follow his dictates."

Under the Trump administration, immigration agents have stepped up arrests at sensitive locations.

Agents have allegedly attempted arrests and other operations during immigration hearings, in the middle of a trial, and at a Los Angeles-area elementary school.