WASHINGTON: US officials arrested a Wisconsin judge on Friday and charged her with helping a man in her court briefly evade immigration authorities in an escalating dispute between President Donald Trump’s administration and local officials over immigration enforcement.

In a criminal complaint, the US Justice Department said Hannah Dugan, a Milwaukee County circuit judge, hindered the immigration agents who showed up to arrest the man without a judicial warrant outside her courtroom on April 18, and that she tried to help him evade arrest by allowing him to exit through a jury door. Agents arrested the man, Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, outside the courthouse after he left with his lawyer.

Dugan appeared briefly at a federal court in Milwaukee to face charges of obstructing a government proceeding and concealing an individual to prevent arrest, records show. She was released and is scheduled to enter a plea on May 15. A crowd formed outside the courthouse, chanting: “Free the judge now.” Dugan left the courthouse through a side door without comment.

Trump, a Republican, launched a sweeping immigration crackdown after taking office in January, and the Justice Department has directed federal prosecutors to pursue criminal cases against local officials who interfere with the effort. Such resistance was widespread during Trump’s first 2017-2021 term in office.

“No one, least of all a judge, should obstruct law enforcement operations, Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. The Trump administration has been locked in an escalating confrontation with federal judges, as several have issued rulings that limit its aggressive use of presidential power in immigration and other matters. State courts have played a less significant role in that dispute.

FBI Director Kash Patel said on social media that agents had arrested Dugan for interfering with the arrest of Flores-Ruiz, whom he described as an “illegal alien.”

Second judge charged

Federal authorities this week also arrested a former New Mexico judge and charged him with evidence tampering, court records show, after a man who authorities allege was linked to a Venezuelan street gang was found living on his property.

The former judge, Joel Cano, was charged alongside his wife Nancy after they allegedly helped the man, who faces illegal gun possession charges, destroy a cellphone believed to contain evidence of him holding firearms, according to a criminal complaint.

Joel Cano was barred by the state supreme court on Tuesday from serving as a judge in the state. In the Wisconsin case, a criminal complaint alleged Dugan became “visibly angry” and said it was “absurd” when plainclothes immigration agents arrived on April 18, saying they wanted to arrest Flores-Ruiz after he left her court, where he faced misdemeanor battery charges.

Published in Dawn, April 27th, 2025