MILWAUKEE —The FBI arrested a Milwaukee judge on Friday accused of helping a man evade immigration authorities, escalating a standoff between the Trump administration and local authorities over the Republican president’s immigration crackdown.
Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan is accused of ushering the man and his attorney out of her courtroom through the jury door last week after learning immigration authorities were planning to arrest him. The man was detained outside the courthouse after officers pursued him on foot.
The Trump administration has accused state and local officials of interfering with its immigration priorities. The arrest also comes amid an escalating battle between the executive branch and the federal judiciary over the president’s executive orders on deportations and other matters.
Dugan was detained by the FBI on Friday morning on the courthouse grounds, according to U.S. Marshals Service spokesman Brady McCarron. She later appeared briefly in federal court in Milwaukee before being released. She faces charges of “concealing an individual to avoid discovery and arrest” and obstructing or impeding a proceeding.
“Judge Dugan deeply regrets and protests her arrest. It was not done in the interest of public safety,” her attorney, Craig Mastantuono, said during the hearing. He declined to comment to an Associated Press reporter after Dugan’s court appearance.
In a statement regarding the arrest, Democratic Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers accused the Trump administration of repeatedly using “dangerous rhetoric to attack and attempt to undermine our judiciary at all levels.”
“I will continue to trust our justice system while this situation is resolved in the court of law,” he said.
Court documents indicate that Dugan was alerted to the presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in the courthouse by her secretary, who was told by an attorney that they were apparently in the hallway.
The FBI affidavit describes Dugan as “visibly angry” about the immigration agents’ arrival at the courthouse and describes her as “absurd” before leaving the bench and retreating to her chambers. It also indicates that she and another judge later approached the agents inside the courthouse, displaying what witnesses described as “confrontational and angry behavior.”
After an argument with officers about the arrest warrant for the man, Eduardo Flores Ruiz demanded that the team speak to the presiding judge and led them out of the courtroom, according to the affidavit.
After directing officers to the presiding judge’s office, investigators say Dugan returned to the courtroom and was heard saying words to the effect of “wait, come with me” before leading Flores-Ruiz and her attorney through a jury door into a non-public area of the courthouse.
The action was unusual, the affidavit states, because “only officers, jurors, court staff, and defendants in custody escorted by officers used the rear jury door. Defense attorneys and defendants not in custody never used the jury door.”
A sign on Dugan’s courtroom door on Friday advised that if any attorney or other court official “knows or believes that a person feels unsafe coming to court in Room 615,” they should notify the court clerk and request a Zoom appearance.
Flores Ruiz, 30, was in Dugan court for a hearing after being charged with three counts of domestic battery. Confronted by a roommate for playing loud music on March 12, Flores Ruiz allegedly fought with him in the kitchen and punched a woman who tried to separate them, according to the police affidavit in the case.
Another woman who tried to break up the fight and called police was allegedly punched in the arm by Flores Ruiz.
Flores Ruiz could face up to nine months in prison and a $10,000 fine for each charge if convicted. His public defender, Alexander Kostal, did not immediately respond to a phone message seeking comment Friday.
A federal judge, the same one Dugan was scheduled to appear before the following day, had ordered Flores Ruiz to remain in jail pending trial on Thursday. Flores Ruiz had been in the United States since reentering the country after being deported in 2013, according to court documents.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said the victims were sitting in the courtroom with state prosecutors when the judge helped him escape immigration arrest.
The judge “put the lives of our police officers at risk. She put the lives of citizens at risk. A chase in the streets—it’s absurd that that had to happen,” Bondi said on Fox News.
Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin called the arrest of a sitting judge a “gravely serious and drastic move” that “threatens to violate” the separation of powers between the executive and judicial branches.
Emilio De Torre, executive director of the Milwaukee Turners, said during a Friday afternoon protest outside the federal courthouse that Dugan served on the board of the local civic organization and “was certainly trying to make sure that due process wasn’t disrupted and that the sanctity of the courts was maintained.”
“Sending armed FBI and ICE agents to buildings like this will intimidate people who show up in court to pay fines and deal with any legal proceedings they may have,” De Torre added.
The case is similar to one filed during Trump’s first term against a Massachusetts judge accused of helping a man walk out the back door of a courthouse to evade a waiting immigration agent.
That prosecution sparked outrage across much of the legal community, which criticized the case as politically motivated. Prosecutors dropped the charge against Newton County District Judge Shelley Joseph in 2022 during the Biden administration after she agreed to self-refer to a state agency that investigates allegations of misconduct by members of the judiciary.
The Justice Department had said it would crack down on local authorities who thwart federal immigration enforcement efforts.
In January, the agency ordered prosecutors to investigate possible criminal charges against any state and local officials who obstructed or impeded federal functions. A memo mentions possible avenues for prosecution, including conspiracy, as well as a law prohibiting harboring people in the country illegally.
Dugan was elected to Branch 31 of the county court in 2016. She has also served in the court’s probate and civil divisions, according to her judicial candidate biography.
Before being elected to public office, Dugan practiced law at Legal Action of Wisconsin and the Legal Aid Society. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1981 with a bachelor’s degree and earned her Juris Doctorate in 1987 from the same school.