Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah C. Dugan was arrested Friday, with federal authorities alleging the judge tried to impede with President Trump’s immigration agenda by helping a migrant illegally in the country avoid arrest in her courtroom.
Dugan, 65, faces charges related to obstructing a proceeding and concealing an individual to prevent their arrest, after she reportedly delayed Immigrations and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE’s) apprehension of Mexican immigrant Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, 30, while he appeared in her courtroom on a misdemeanor battery charge earlier this month. Flores-Ruiz is now in ICE custody.
“Judge Dugan wholeheartedly regrets and protests her arrest. It was not made in the interest of public safety,” Craig Mastantuono, who is representing Dugan, said during a hearing Friday.
She was released from custody and is scheduled to be arraigned May 15.
Here is what to know about the judge.
Dugan, 65, is a Milwaukee native who was first elected to the bench in 2016. She ran unopposed for reelection in 2022, and her current term runs through 2028. Circuit Court judicial races in Wisconsin are nonpartisan.
She previously served as executive director of the nonprofit Catholic Charities of Southeastern Wisconsin from 2006-09, was an adjunct assistant professor at Marquette University and was an attorney with the Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee for more than a decade, her online bio indicates.
She received an award in 2012 from the Milwaukee Bar Association recognizing her pro bono work and is a past president of the legal group.
In a 2016 interview with the Milwaukee Independent, Dugan said she “love(s) the challenge of law to meet the promise of equal justice and its capacity to bring hope to people.”
“The rule of law and precedential law is meant to provide consistency and predictably to create order and safety,” she said. “And yet the law also offers the capacity to transform people’s lives and evolve with changing times and circumstances.”
She also noted the ability for some cases to become politicized in that interview.
“It is the role of the judge to be particularly cautious that such cases are handled according to the legal process and not be overwhelmed by political pressure,” she said.
There have been conflicting reports about what happened when ICE agents showed up in Dugan’s courtroom April 18.
According to court records, when authorities presented a warrant, Dugan asked for more information and told them they needed to speak to the chief judge before they could arrest Flores-Ruiz there.
The FBI’s affidavit alleges the judge “became visibly angry, commented that the situation was ‘absurd,’ left the bench, and entered chambers. At the time, Ruiz was seated in the gallery of the courtroom.”
They claim a courtroom deputy witnessed Dugan telling Flores-Ruiz and his attorneys to leave through a side door, as the agents sought out the chief judge.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported before Duggan’s arrest that sources told the newspaper the judge didn’t hide Flores-Ruiz.
“Rather, sources said, when ICE officials left to talk with the chief judge on the same floor, Dugan took the pair to a side door in the courtroom, directed them down a private hallway and into the public area on the 6th floor,” the Journal Sentinel reported.
Local talk radio host Dan O’Donnell first reported the FBI was investigating Duggan and alleged the judge “allowed the defendant to hide in her jury room (which is normally off-limits to everyone except the judge and members of the jury).”
That prompted a statement from Republican state lawmaker Bob Donovan.
“In all my years of Milwaukee politics and public safety issues, working with cops, district attorneys, and judges, I have never seen a more irresponsible act by an officer of the court, let alone a judge, if true,” Donovan wrote. “This borders on obstruction of justice and I hope the FBI continues a thorough investigation and, if warranted, prosecution to the fullest extent of the law.”
“Our laws are not suggestions; they must be upheld to maintain order in a functioning society,” he continued. “If Judge Dugan is insistent on aiding and abetting a criminal, she should be disbarred for violating her sworn oath to uphold the law.”
Donovan responded to news of Dugan’s arrest in a post Friday on the social platform X.
“By now, I’m sure she regrets her decision, but she can only blame herself for her alleged irresponsible actions that created this mess to begin with,” he wrote.
