Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan was charged April 25 with two felonies on allegations of trying to help an undocumented immigrant avoid arrest after he appeared in her courtroom.
According to a 13-page complaint, Dugan, 65, is accused of obstructing a U.S. agency and concealing an individual to prevent an arrest. The two charges carry a maximum penalty of six years in prison and a $350,000 fine, but sentences in cases involving nonviolent offenses typically are much shorter.
Specifically, the complaint says Dugan assisted Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, an undocumented Mexican immigrant, avoid being arrested by federal immigration officials at the Milwaukee County Courthouse after he appeared in her courtroom for a pretrial conference on April 18. Flores-Ruiz is facing three misdemeanor battery counts.
Two federal agents eventually chased Flores-Ruiz down outside the courthouse and apprehended him at West State Street and North 10th Street downtown, according to the complaint.
“Hannah C. Dugan has committed herself to the rule of law and the principles of due process for her entire career as a lawyer and a judge,” an attorney for Dugan said in a statement. “Judge Dugan will defend herself vigorously, and looks forward to being exonerated.”
Judge Dugan makes brief appearance in federal courtroom
On April 25, Dugan appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Stephen C. Dries during a brief hearing in a packed courtroom at the federal courthouse. Dugan made no public comments during the brief hearing.
At the hearing, Dries asked if prosecutors were seeking detention, and they said they were not. He answered that he did not believe that the charges were “eligible” for detention.
As it ended, her attorney, Craig Mastantuono, told the court: “Judge Dugan wholeheartedly regrets and protests her arrest. It was not made in the interest of public safety.” Dugan is now being represented by former U.S. Attorney Steve Biskupic.
Dugan made her federal court appearance a little more than two hours after she was arrested at the county courthouse at about 8 a.m. April 25. Though she was initially in federal custody, she was not in a jumpsuit when she appeared in court but was instead wearing a black dress with white flowers.
Federal prosecutors Kelly Watzka and Keith Alexander declined to comment as they walked out of the courtroom after a brief hearing.
Reaction to Dugan’s arrest grew nationally
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi posted on X: “I can confirm that our @FBI agents just arrested Hannah Dugan – a county judge in Milwaukee – for allegedly helping an illegal alien avoid an arrest by @ICEgov.”
Earlier, FBI Director Kash Patel posted, deleted and then reposted a tweet about the arrest.
“Just NOW, the FBI arrested Judge Hannah Dugan out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin on charges of obstruction — after evidence of Judge Dugan obstructing an immigration arrest operation last week,” Patel wrote. “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.”
Multiple Milwaukee County judges confirmed that the arrest took place at the courthouse.
Franklyn Gimbel, a prominent Milwaukee defense attorney and former federal prosecutor, called Dugan’s arrest “outrageous.”
“A person who is a judge, who has a residence who has no problem being found, should not be arrested, if you will, like some common criminal,” Gimbel said. “And I’m shocked and surprised that the U.S. Attorney’s Office or the FBI would not have invited her to show up and accept process if they’re going to charge her with a crime.”
U.S. Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin described the arrest as an example of governmental overreach by the Trump administration.
Mayor Cavalier Johnson also slammed the Trump administration’s move, calling it “ham-handed,” “haphazard” and being more about “showboating” than about keeping Milwaukee’s community safe.
“If a judge is being arrested in a courthouse, just imagine the chilling effect that it sends to other folks who would otherwise participate in judicial proceedings in our courthouse – and not just in the Milwaukee County Courthouse, but courthouses across the state of Wisconsin and courthouses across the United States,” Johnson said.
Republican Sen. Ron Johnson, the state’s top Republican, said in a statement to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “I would advise everyone to cooperate with federal law enforcement and not endanger them and the public by obstructing their efforts to arrest criminals and illegal aliens.”
GOP Rep. Tom Tiffany, who is considering a run for governor in 2026, wrote on X: “If you help illegal aliens evade arrest, you will be arrested.”
Tiffany had attacked Democratic Gov. Tony Evers over a memo sent to state employees that provided instructions on how to interact with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities who visit state buildings.
State employees, Tiffany said, should now “think twice” before following such guidance.
On Friday, a group of protesters gathered outside the federal courthouse in downtown Milwaukee chanting: “No justice, no peace. Let the judge be released.” Some held signs that read, “Justice 4 all” and “Judge arrest = Trump guilt.”
At the end, protesters linked arms and stood in front of the courthouse doors and vowed to return.
Dugan accused of assisting undocumented defendant facing misdemeanor charges
The complaint says federal officials used biometric fingerprint comparisons to see that Flores-Ruiz, who was set to appear before Dugan on April 18, had been deported from the United States in 2013. ICE officials obtained an arrest warrant for Flores-Ruiz on April 17.
A day later, six members of the Milwaukee ICE task force dressed in plain clothes and went to the county courthouse to arrest Flores-Ruiz at about 8 a.m., the complaint says. They then informed the bailiff in Dugan’s courtroom that they were planning the arrest, agreeing to wait to do so until after his court appearance.
A clerk notified Dugan that it appeared ICE agents were waiting in the hallway outside her courtroom.
“Judge DUGAN became visibly angry, commented that the situation was ‘absurd,’ left the bench, and entered chambers,” the complaint said.
According to the complaint, Dugan confronted members of the arrest team while “visibly upset and had a confrontational, angry demeanor.” She told the group members they needed a judicial warrant, not an administrative one, and directed them to report to Chief Judge Carl Ashley’s office.
While this was going on, the bailiff informed the arrest team — which included ICE, FBI and Drug Enforcement Agency officials — that Dugan had expedited Flores-Ruiz’s case. Witnesses told federal authorities that she then “forcefully motioned” for the defendant and his attorney to exit through a side door near the jury box that leads to a private hallway and then to the public area outside the courtroom.
A DEA agent then saw Flores-Ruiz and his attorney get on an elevator, and he got on it with them, notifying others on the arrest team what was happening. Flores-Ruiz got off the elevator and was confronted by two agents outside the courthouse.
“A foot chase ensued,” the complaint said. “The agents pursued Flores-Ruiz for the entire length of the courthouse and ultimately apprehended him near the intersection of W. State Street and 10th Street. Flores-Ruiz was handcuffed and detained.”
Records show Flores-Ruiz was charged April 24 by federal authorities with illegal re-entry into the United States.
In an federal court appearance the same day, Flores-Ruiz’s federal attorney Marty Pruhs said a judge assisted his client and that Flores-Ruiz was acting on the advice of his state attorney. Minutes from the court hearing said Flores-Ruiz, who has been working as a cook, has been living in Milwaukee for about 12 years.
Flores-Ruiz is listed as being in ICE custody at Dodge Detention Facility in Juneau, according to the federal online detainee locator system.
That arrest marked at least the third time in recent months that federal immigration agents have come to the courthouse with arrest warrants. In March and early April, two people were arrested by ICE officials in the hallways of the courthouse.
Records show that Dugan had 25 cases on the morning of April 18. Flores-Ruiz’s case was set for 8:30 a.m. He does not appear to have any other state or federal criminal offenses or charges.
According to his criminal complaint, Flores-Ruiz is charged with three counts of misdemeanor battery. The charges include modifiers for domestic violence that could subject him to additional punishment if he is convicted.
The case stemmed from a fight on March 12 between two roommates at a home on the 3900 block of West Vliet Street. No one answered the door when the Journal Sentinel visited his residence April 23.
The criminal complaint said a fight occurred after Flores-Ruiz was accused of playing music too loudly in the home. The complaint alleges Flores-Ruiz punched another person 30 times, then struck a woman who tried to break up the melee.
Each of the three Class A misdemeanors has a maximum penalty of nine months in jail and a $10,000 fine.
Dugan was elected to Branch 31 of the Circuit Court in 2016 by knocking off an appointee of Republican Gov. Scott Walker. Her judicial term expires in 2028.
(This story was updated to add a photo gallery.)
