Federal authorities have arrested a Wisconsin-based judge amid an investigation into whether she tried to help a migrant lacking permanent legal status avoid arrest after he appeared in her courtroom.
Attorney General Pam Bondi confirmed the arrest in a post on X.
“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 @ICEgov,” Bondi wrote. “No one is above the law.”
Dugan, a Milwaukee County Circuit judge, was arrested around 8 a.m. CDT, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, citing confirmation from the U.S. Marshals Service.
Her arrest would mark an aggressive move by the administration on immigration enforcement and a major escalation in its battles with the courts, which have issued decisions pushing back on some of the administration’s actions.
FBI Director Kash Patel also referenced the arrest in a now-deleted social media post.
“Just NOW, the FBI arrested Judge Hannah Dugan out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin on charges of obstruction — after evidence of Judge Dugan obstructing an immigration arrest operation last week,” Patel wrote.
“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 added Flores Ruiz was later “chased down … on foot” and is also in custody.
The FBI in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment about why Patel deleted his tweet.
The FBI Field Office in Milwaukee also did not immediately respond to request for comment nor did the U.S. Marshals.
The Hill has left a message with Milwaukee County Courts Chief Judge Carl Ashley.
The Journal Sentinel reported last week that Flores Ruiz, a Mexican national, was arrested after being due in Dugan’s courtroom on three misdemeanor counts of battery stemming from a fight with roommates.
According to the Journal Sentinel, when ICE officials appeared at the courthouse on April 18, they presented a warrant, but when Dugan left to speak to the offices she directed Flores Ruiz and his attorney “to a side door in the courtroom, directed them down a private hallway and into the public area on the 6th floor” where her courtroom is located.
The outlet said it was the third time in recent months that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have come to the courthouse with arrest warrants.
Under the Biden administration, ICE was prohibited from making arrests in certain sensitive areas like schools and churches. The Trump administration rescinded that memo and replaced it with a new one in January, outlining specific criteria for conducting immigration enforcement at courthouses.
This story was updated at 12:18 p.m.
