Wisconsin judge Hannah Dugan pleaded not guilty Thursday to federal obstruction charges stemming from her allegedly helping a man evade immigration authorities during a federal law enforcement operation at her courthouse.
Dugan, a Milwaukee county circuit court judge, was arrested in April by the FBI after director Kash Patel said she “intentionally misdirected federal agents away” from an illegal immigrant who had a criminal court hearing in front of the judge and was set to be arrested after his hearing ended.
A federal judge set Dugan’s trial to begin the week of July 21.
Dugan was charged with one count of concealing an individual to prevent arrest and obstruction, and on Tuesday a federal grand jury indicted her on those charges.
The man, Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, is currently in custody at an immigration detention center.
According to a sworn statement by an FBI agent, Flores-Ruiz was deported from the United States in 2013 and illegally reentered the U.S. During this period, Flores-Ruiz was accused of committing battery.
After a fingerprint match from Flores-Ruiz’s first arrest in 2013 and a local case in Milwaukee, a warrant for his arrest and deportation was issued by ICE.
While Flores-Ruiz was scheduled to appear before Dugan for a criminal court appearance, law enforcement waited outside of her courtroom to arrest him on an administrative warrant.
The FBI agent said in the statement that “arrest team members reported that while waiting outside of the courtroom, a woman approached and took photos of arrest team members,” just before Flores-Ruiz arrived at the court with his attorney.
A courtroom deputy told the FBI agent that the woman who took the photos of the arrest team showed the pictures to Dugan while she was on the bench in her courtroom, and “Dugan became visibly angry, commented that the situation was ‘absurd,’ left the bench, and entered chambers.”
Dugan then approached the arrest team with another judge in the public hallway.
“Witnesses uniformly reported that Judge Dugan was visibly upset and had a confrontational, angry demeanor,” the agent wrote. Dugan, according to witnesses, told the arrest team to go to the chief judge’s office to speak with them about the permissibility of making the arrest inside the courthouse, and looked around the hallway near her courtroom to seek out other law enforcement officers who were waiting to arrest Flores-Ruiz.
One agent, who Dugan did not recognize as part of the arrest team, remained in the hallway waiting for Flores-Ruiz.
After that, the special agent said multiple witnesses in Dugan’s courtroom saw her say, “Wait, come with me,” to Flores-Ruiz as he headed toward the public courtroom exit where the officers were waiting.
“Judge Dugan then escorted Flores-Ruiz and his counsel out of the courtroom through the ‘jury door,’ which leads to a nonpublic area of the courthouse,” the agent wrote, adding that Dugan also instructed the man’s attorney to also leave the courtroom through that door.
Agents later spotted Flores-Ruiz “looking around the hallway” in the courthouse and followed him out of the courthouse, where a foot chase ensued and he was arrested.
Dugan’s attorney Craig Mastantuono said in a statement to CBS News that, “As she said after her unnecessary arrest, Judge Dugan asserts her innocence and looks forward to being vindicated in court.”
On Wednesday, Dugan’s attorneys moved to dismiss the indictment against her, claiming the actions she took were in her official capacity as a judge and thus has “absolute immunity from criminal prosecution.” She also claimed the arrest was a violation of the Tenth Amendment.
Dugan was released from detention after making an initial appearance in federal court. As the result of her arrest, Dugan was suspended from the bench in late April by the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Milwaukee County Circuit Court Chief Judge Carl Ashley said Dugan’s docket would be taken over by a reserve judge “as needed.”
Dugan has served as a judge in Milwaukee County Circuit Court since 2016, when she was elected with about 65% of the vote. She was reelected in 2022 after running unopposed.
