A former Wisconsin judge who helped a man avoid immigration agents will not serve any prison time after a United States judge ordered her to pay a $5,000 fine on Wednesday.
Hannah Dugan, 67, a former Milwaukee County Circuit Court judge, told the court she had not acted maliciously when she shielded the man at her court in 2025, but had been trying to maintain “the decorum and safety of the courtroom”.
“I have been cast as both a scofflaw and a hero. I am neither,” Dugan said. “I am a public servant who’s just trying to do my job.”
US District Judge Lynn Adelman said he took into account Dugan’s decades of public service in his decision not to send her to prison. “This is a few minutes of conduct for someone who has dedicated her life to public service,” he said.
At the heart of the case was an incident at the Milwaukee County Court in April 2025, when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrived to arrest a Mexican man named Eduardo Flores-Ruiz. He had re-entered the United States illegally after being deported in 2013 and was set to appear in court for misdemeanor battery charges.
When the agents arrived, Dugan directed them to the chief judge’s office, telling them their administrative warrant was not sufficient. When they left, Dugan led Flores-Ruiz and his lawyer out through a private jury door. Agents saw him and caught him outside the court after a brief chase.
A federal jury convicted Dugan in December of obstructing a federal proceeding but acquitted her of a separate charge of concealing a person from arrest.
On Wednesday, Judge Adelman said Dugan had “made a bad decision in the moment”, noting she had already lost her job, now has a felony conviction and had received threats that forced her to move. He also added that her actions had not ultimately stopped the ICE agents from making the arrest.
Federal prosecutors had argued for 15 to 21 months in prison, saying Dugan had “used the power and prestige of judicial office to obstruct federal agents”. But Dugan’s lawyers said it had been an isolated incident and she had already paid a steep price, being “handcuffed and shackled during her arrest, photographed publicly by plan, and intentionally shamed from coast to coast.”
Among those officials was FBI Director Kash Patel, who posted a photo of Dugan in handcuffs with the caption: “No one is above the law.” Republican Congressman Tom Tiffany also urged authorities to “lock her up”.
Dugan’s lawyers accused the Trump regime of trying to “crush” her to ensure judicial compliance with its strategy of arresting immigrants inside courts. Critics have similarly said prosecutors were using the case to send a message to judges who might resist its immigration enforcement policies.
Source: www.aljazeera.com