By Andrew Goudsward
MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin (Reuters) – A Wisconsin judge is set to appear in federal court on Thursday to face charges accusing her of helping a migrant evade an immigration arrest in her courtroom in a case with implications for President Donald Trump’s sweeping immigration crackdown.
Hannah Dugan, an elected judge on the Milwaukee County Circuit Court, is set to enter a plea on charges accusing her of obstruction and concealing an individual wanted for arrest.
Prosecutors allege that Dugan sought to derail the planned arrest by directing federal agents away from the hallway outside of her courtroom and escorting the migrant, identified as Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, through a non-public exit.
Dugan’s legal team has said she is innocent. On Wednesday, her lawyers asked for the indictment to be tossed out, arguing that as a judge she is immune from prosecution over official actions and that the case intrudes on state authority.
“The government’s prosecution of Judge Dugan is virtually unprecedented and entirely unconstitutional,” her lawyers wrote in a court filing.
The case came after the U.S. Justice Department under Trump vowed to investigate local officials who impede the administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement.
State courthouses have proved an attractive venue for federal immigration operations, but the practice has drawn resistance from advocates over fears people living in the United States illegally will be deterred from accessing legal services.
Dugan, first elected as a judge in 2016, spent much of her career representing low-income litigants in cases involving civil rights and domestic abuse issues.
The prosecution relates to Flores-Ruiz’s planned appearance in Dugan’s courtroom on assault charges on April 18. Flores-Ruiz was set to appear for a pre-trial hearing after he was accused of striking his roommate and two others during a dispute about loud music, according to a local police report.
Flores-Ruiz had previously been deported to Mexico and federal immigration agents secured an administrative warrant to take him into custody, according to the criminal complaint against Dugan.
The complaint, citing witnesses, alleges that Dugan became angry after learning that law enforcement agents planned to arrest Flores-Ruiz outside her courtroom following the hearing.
She first directed a group of agents to an office down the hallway, where one agent spoke by phone to the chief judge. She then privately addressed the Flores-Ruiz case and waved him and his lawyer through a non-public “jury door,” according to the complaint.
The document notes that Flores-Ruiz was later spotted by law enforcement in a public hallway and that one agent followed him into an elevator. Flores-Ruiz was arrested outside the courthouse after a foot chase.
(Reporting by Andrew Goudsward; Editing by Scott Malone and Mark Porter)
