The Wisconsin judge accused of obstructing federal authorities who were seeking to detain an undocumented immigrant for deportation was temporarily relieved of her duties Tuesday, an order from the state’s high court shows.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court’s order bars Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan from her position while the federal charges are adjudicated.
The court, which said it was acting on its own and not in response to a request from anyone, said the order was intended to protect public confidence in Wisconsin courts.
A criminal complaint shows Dugan was charged with obstructing or impeding a proceeding before a department or agency of the United States, a felony, and concealing an individual to prevent his discovery and arrest, a misdemeanor.
She could face a maximum prison sentence of six years.
The FBI arrested Dugan, who was first elected to the circuit court in 2016, last week in the parking lot of the Milwaukee County Courthouse, a senior law enforcement official has told NBC News.
Her attorneys declined to comment to NBC News on Tuesday, but her legal team told The Associated Press that it was disappointed “the Court acted in unilateral fashion. We continue to assert Judge Dugan’s innocence and look forward to her vindication in court.”
A statement previously issued on her behalf said she would defend herself “vigorously and looks forward to being exonerated.”
An affidavit in the case alleges that on April 18, agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement planned to detain a man who was set to appear in Dugan’s courtroom in a domestic violence case. Eduardo Flores-Ruiz had previously been deported from the United States, and an immigration official found probable cause to believe he could be removed from the country, according to the affidavit.
Dugan and another unnamed judge are alleged to have confronted the agents in the hallway, asking whether they had a judicial warrant and telling them to speak with the chief judge, according to the affidavit. After Dugan escorted Flores-Ruiz and his lawyer through a jury door, agents pursued them by foot and took Flores-Ruiz into custody, according to the affidavit.
The Trump administration accused Dugan of “intentionally misdirecting federal agents” in an act a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson called “shocking and shameful.”
Her arrest prompted protests outside the local FBI office, where a state lawmaker told demonstrators over the weekend that the judiciary acts “as a check to unchecked executive power. And functioning democracies do not lock up judges.”
