A Milwaukee County Circuit judge has been arrested on obstruction charges related to Trump’s hardline immigration policy. Authorities claim that Judge Hannah Dugan aided an undocumented immigrant evade “an immigration arrest,” according to a statement made on social media by FBI Director Kash Patel.
“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,” Patel wrote on social media on Friday morning. “Thankfully our agents chased down the perp on foot and he’s been in custody since, but the Judge’s obstruction created increased danger to the public.” Patel has since deleted the post announcing this arrest, and the FBI did not respond to questions about Patel’s post, Ruiz, and Dugan in time for publication.
Federal law states that anyone who “knowingly and willfully falsifies, conceals, or covers up by any trick, scheme, or device a material fact” faces a fine and up to five years in prison, or up to eight years “if the offense involves international or domestic terrorism.”
Judges have been arrested in the past, usually for crimes involving bribery and corruption schemes, such as Operation Greylord, a three-year sting operation conducted by the FBI in the 1980s, which resulted in the conviction of dozens of public officials in Chicago. It is highly unusual for a judge to be arrested for obstruction of law enforcement.
Dugan was elected to her seat on the Milwaukee Court bench in 2016, taking over from a judge appointed by Republican Governor Scott Walker. Before that, she led nonprofits providing legal aid, including Legal Action of Wisconsin, Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee and Catholic Charities of Southeastern Wisconsin.
