How Milwaukee Judge Hannah Dugan allegedly helped a migrant slip previous ICE brokers and landed herself in handcuffs | EUROtoday

A Milwaukee choose helped a migrant wished by deportation brokers slip out of their sight on the courthouse, federal officers say, as they’ve now criminally charged her.

Judge Hannah Dugan of the Milwaukee County Circuit Court was taken into custody Friday primarily based on what FBI Director Kash Patel described as obstruction of justice.

“We believe Judge Dugan intentionally misdirected federal agents away from the subject to be arrested in her courthouse, Eduardo Flores Ruiz, allowing the subject — an illegal alien — to evade arrest,” he mentioned.

A legal grievance unsealed Friday and obtained by The Independent offers particulars of her alleged crimes.

It says witnesses on the scene “uniformly reported” that Dugan “was visibly upset and had a confrontational, angry demeanor” with ICE brokers on the courthouse to arrest a person scheduled for a listening to in her courtroom. She allegedly escorted defendant Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, a Mexican nationwide going through deportation, by means of the “jury door” and right into a private space of the courthouse.

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A staff of six plainclothes federal brokers from the Milwaukee ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Task Force confirmed up on the Milwaukee County Courthouse round 8 a.m., and advised a safety guard that they “were present to make an arrest,” the grievance states.

The guard mentioned she wanted to talk with a supervisor, who contacted a shift sergeant with the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office. The sergeant requested that the staff wait within the hallway outdoors of Dugan’s courtroom and wait till proceedings have been completed earlier than arresting anybody, which the grievance describes as “standard practice.”

While the brokers waited within the hallway, a public defender snapped images of them, then knowledgeable Dugan’s clerk that ICE was within the constructing, the grievance continues. It says Dugan then left the bench and, together with one other choose who just isn’t recognized by identify within the grievance, approached the arrest staff and requested in the event that they have been “present for a court appearance.” When they mentioned they have been there to arrest any individual, Dugan advised them they would wish a judicial warrant, not the executive one that they had, based on the grievance. When the ICE staff pushed again, Dugan advised them they would wish to talk with the chief choose, and the second choose standing with Dugan escorted them to his workplace, the grievance goes on.

As brokers have been talking with the chief choose, Dugan returned to her courtroom and adjourned Flores-Ruiz’s case, which had not but been known as, based on the grievance. Then, when he and his lawyer have been making ready to go away, Dugan’s courtroom deputy claimed to listen to her “say something like, ‘Wait, come with me,’” based on the grievance. She then led Flores-Ruiz out by means of the jury door, it says.

A DEA agent on the arrest staff who hadn’t been acknowledged by Dugan and stayed behind within the hallway noticed Flores-Ruiz and his lawyer and acquired on an elevator with them, the grievance states, noting that the agent alerted the remainder of the staff that he was in an elevator with their goal

“While on the elevator, Flores-Ruiz and his attorney spoke to each other in Spanish, which DEA Agent A did not understand,” based on the grievance. “They exited the elevator on one of the bottom floors of the courthouse and used the Ninth Street public entrance/exit to leave the building.”

The staff members “scrambled to locate Flores-Ruiz and arrest him,” the grievance states. It says that when brokers approached Flores-Ruiz and recognized themselves, he “turned around and sprinted down the street.” Agents caught up with Flores-Ruiz on the nook and cuffed him at 9:05 am, based on the grievance.

Flores-Ruiz was arrested and charged final month in Milwaukee County Circuit Court with three counts of Battery-Domestic Abuse-Infliction of Physical Pain or Injury, the grievance states.

Earlier on Friday, Patel claimed that Judge Dugan had “created increased danger to the public” by what he known as her “obstruction.”

The FBI director later deleted the X publish for causes that weren’t apparently clear. But Attorney General Pam Bondi later confirmed the arrest in a separate publish, writing: “I can confirm that our [FBI] agents just arrested Hannah Dugan – a county judge in Milwaukee – for allegedly helping an illegal alien avoid an arrest by [ICE].”

“No one is above the law,” she added.

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Dugan, a graduate of the University of Wisconsin Law School who practiced at Legal Action of Wisconsin and the Legal Aid Society earlier than looking for and profitable public workplace, appeared in a federal court docket in Milwaukee shortly after her arrest and was launched from custody pending her subsequent scheduled look on May 15.

Her lawyer, Craig Mastantuono mentioned through the temporary listening to that the choose “wholeheartedly regrets and protests her arrest” and described it as “not made in the interest of public safety.”

The allegations leveled at Dugan, who has served on the Milwaukee County bench since 2016, seem like primarily based on claims made by a right-wing radio host, Dan O’Donnell, who on Tuesday posted on X that Dugan was beneath investigation “for allegedly helping an illegal immigrant defendant evade ICE agents who came to arrest him in her courtroom during a hearing” the earlier Friday.

In a publish on X following Patel’s announcement, O’Donnell took credit score for the arrest and mentioned it was primarily based on his “exclusive report” from earlier within the week.

Democratic congressman Jamie Raskin, the rating member of the House Judiciary Committee, mentioned in an announcement: “While all the facts are not yet in, the implications of this arrest are chilling. This is a drastic escalation & dangerous new front in Trump’s authoritarian campaign of trying to bully, intimidate & impeach judges who won’t follow his dictates.”

The prices in opposition to the longtime Milwaukee choose mark a big escalation in what has been — till now — a confrontation between the Trump administration and state and native officers over the extent to which they’re required to help immigration authorities.

Trump White House “border czar” Tom Homan has repeatedly threatened to jail state and native officers if he believes they’re impeding lawful deportation efforts by immigration officers. And the Justice Department’s number-three official, Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, issued a memorandum earlier this yr prioritizing investigations and potential legal prices in opposition to state and native officers who hinder or impede federal features. The memo cited a conspiracy offense in addition to a legislation prohibiting the harboring of individuals within the nation illegally as authorized avenues for potential prosecutions.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s workplace for the Eastern District of Wisconsin didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark from The Independent.

With further reporting by businesses