WASHINGTON — The FBI arrested a county judge in Milwaukee on Friday, alleging that she obstructed the detention of an undocumented immigrant who was wanted by federal authorities on an administrative immigration warrant by escorting the man and his defense attorney though a non-public jury door.
The arrest of Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan marks a significant escalation of the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration, in line with its rhetoric about going after local and state authorities on immigration-related matters.
Dugan faces charges of obstructing or impeding a proceeding before a department or agency of the United States, as well as a charge of concealing an individual to prevent his discovery and arrest.
Dugan was arrested by the FBI and is now in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service, a senior law enforcement official said. The official told NBC News that Dugan was arrested at about 8:30 a.m. local time in the parking lot of the Milwaukee County Courthouse, before she entered the building. She was then transferred to the custody of the U.S. Marshals.
Dugan made an appearance before a federal magistrate judge and was released on bond, with another court hearing scheduled for May 15.
The news of Dugan’s arrest broke in a since-deleted post on X from FBI Director Kash Patel, in which he wrote that the bureau believed that Dugan “intentionally misdirected federal agents” when the “subject to be arrested” had appeared in Dugan’s court on a separate case.
Patel said that agents “chased down the perp on foot,” but said that Hagan’s “obstruction created increased danger to the public.” Attorney General Pam Bondi also appeared on Fox News Friday afternoon and said, addressing Dugan, “You cannot obstruct a criminal case.”
It’s not the first time the federal government under Trump has hit a local judge with federal charges alleging that they helped an undocumented immigrant avoid arrest in the course of their official duties.
In 2019, during Trump’s first term, the U.S. attorney in Boston charged a Massachusetts judge and a court officer with obstruction of justice for allegedly aiding an undocumented immigrant in leaving the courthouse through a back exit to avoid arrest.
The judge’s attempts to get the case dismissed in federal appeals court were denied. But prosecutors reached a deal to drop the charges in 2022, under then-President Joe Biden’s administration, with the case instead going to review at the state judicial commission.
Details of the Milwaukee case
FBI Special Agent Lindsay Schloemer, a member of the white collar crimes squad in the bureau’s Milwaukee Field Office, wrote in an affidavit that U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement had found that Eduardo Flores-Ruiz been removed from the U.S. in 2013 and that an immigration official found probable cause to believe Flores-Ruiz was removable.
Members of ICE planned to arrest Flores-Ruiz during a court hearing in a domestic violence case before Dugan on April 18, according to the affidavit. Schloemer wrote that making arrests inside of courthouses lowers the risk to law enforcement because targets have gone through an individual screening.
Dugan was on the bench when the ICE agents appeared in the hallway, and a courtroom deputy told the FBI that Dugan became visibly angry and called the situation “absurd” when a clerk spoke with her about ICE’s presence. Dugan and another unnamed judge then confronted deportation officers in the hallway, the affidavit alleges, and Dugan asked if they had a judicial warrant.
“No, I have an administrative warrant,” one of the agents replied, according to the affidavit. Dugan then “demanded” that the agent speak with the chief judge while members of the arrest team were in the chief judge’s chambers, the complaint states.
Dugan then escorted Flores-Ruiz and his attorney through a jury door, the government alleges. But the ICE team was able to make the arrest after a foot chase.
The deputy court clerk for Dugan told NBC News that they could not comment on the arrest. In a statement, the chief judge of the court, Carl Ashley, said that the “judicial code of conduct restricts judges from commenting on pending or impending matters in any court. Judge Dugan’s court calendar will be covered by another judge as needed.”
Gary Grumbach , Tom Winter and Adam Edelman contributed.
