Federal agents arrested a Wisconsin judge and charged him with obstruction for pretended to help an undocumented arrest to escape.
Announcing her arrest, FBI director Kash Patel accused the County Count of Milwaukee Circuit Hannah Dugan, of “intentionally oriented” of immigration agents far from a Mexican whom they were trying to arrest last week.
“Fortunately, our agents have hunted the PERP on foot and he has been in detention since, but the judge’s obstruction has created an increased danger for the public,” wrote Patel on X.
On Friday, during a preliminary hearing of the court, the lawyer of Dugan declared that she “regretted and unreservedly protests his arrest. It was not made in the interest of public security”.
The judge was accused of an obstruction and concealment of an individual to avoid arrest and risks a maximum of six years in prison if he was found guilty of the two accusations.
Dugan was released from his own gratitude while waiting for a hearing on May 15.
The accusations arise from events that took place in Dugan’s courtroom last week.
On April 17, an immigration judge issued an arrest warrant from Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, a Mexican national confronted with three leaders of an offense from a national struggle, according to court documents deposited in the case by the FBI.
The next day, Flores-Ruiz appeared before the Milwaukee court for a planned hearing, and six American immigration officers and customs application (ICE), the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Agency arrived at the courthouse to arrest.
The agents identified the court officials and waited outside the Dugan courtroom, but according to the Affidavit of the FBI, the judge became “visibly angry, said that the situation was” absurd “, left the bench and entered the chambers” when she learned their presence.
In the corridor outside the court, Dugan and the nameless agents argued on the type of arrest warrant which had been issued, before the judge asked them to appear at the office of the chief judge of the county.
While several agents were at the office, said Affidavit, the judge inaugurated Flores-Ruiz and his lawyer at a side door intended for the members of the jury which leads to the courtroom.
But two agents stayed near the courtroom and spotted Flores-Ruiz trying to escape, says the Affidavit.
Flores-Ruiz, who, according to the authorities, had already been expelled from the United States in 2013, managed to leave the courthouse but was arrested a few minutes later after a short pursuit on foot.
Dugan’s arrest occurred one day after a former New Mexico judge was placed in police custody accused of hosting an alleged member of the Venezuelan gang in his home.
“I think some of these judges think that they are beyond and above the law and that they are not,” said Prosecutor General Pam Bondi in an interview on Friday.
“And if you destroy evidence, if you clog justice, when you have victims sitting in a courtroom of domestic violence, and you escort a criminal defendant by a rear door, it will not be tolerated.”
The reaction to the arrest has largely divided along the partisan lines.
The Wisconsin senator, Tammy Baldwin, a democrat, described him as “serious and drastic movement”.
“Make no mistake, we have no kings in this country and we are a democracy governed by laws that everyone must respect,” Baldwin said in a statement. “By relentlessly attacking the justice system, drinking legal orders and by arresting an in -office judge, this president puts fundamental democratic values that Wisconsinites are dear to the line.”
The mayor of Milwaukee, johnson rider, also criticized the arrest, the appellant “showboating” and warned that he would have a “scary effect” on legal proceedings.
The American Republican Senator of Wisconsin, Ron Johnson, told Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “I would advise everyone to cooperate with federal police and not to put them in danger and the public by hindering their efforts to stop the illegal criminals and foreigners.”
Dugan was elected for the first time as a judge in 2016 and was re -elected to a second six -year term in 2022.
The judicial elections in Wisconsin are not a supporter, but Dugan was approved by the Milwaukee Democrat mayor.
The accusation of obstruction leads to a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a fine of $ 250,000, while the accusation of concealment can be punished one year in prison and a fine of $ 100,000.
In 2019, during the first Trump administration, a Massachusetts judge was arrested after authorizing an undocumented immigrant accused to recover property from a locking in the courtroom. The immigrant then left the courtroom.
Judge Shelley M Richmond Joseph was accused of obstruction, but the accusations were abandoned in 2022, although it still faces a complaint in ethics resulting from the incident.
