(The Center Square) – Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan has been temporarily replaced on her cases as she awaits her May 15 pre-trial hearing on a pair of charges.
Dugan is charged with obstruction a federal proceeding and concealing an individual to prevent discovery or arrest. The obstruction charge could lead to up to a $100,000 fine and a year in prison while the second concealment charge can lead to up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The defendant she is accused of concealing, Eduardo Flores Ruiz, was previously deported and came back to the U.S., where he was facing charges in Milwaukee of domestic battery and abuse.
“No one is above the law,” U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a social media video. “… (Flores-Ruiz) was charged with violently attacking a man, punching him in the face 30 times, strangling him and then attacking a woman by punching her in the face with his closed fist. Both victims were brave enough to be in court.
“She is now charged with obstruction of justice for sneaking this criminal defendant and illegal alien out a back exit through her chambers to avoid his arrest, leaving the victims and prosecutors sitting in court all morning awaiting his justice.”
The case was the subject of weekend protests from Voces de la Frontera and Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression.
“The arrest of Milwaukee County Judge Dugan is yet another example of the Trump administration’s abuse of power,” Voces de la Frontera Executive Director Christine Nuemann-Ortiz said in a statement. “It is an attempt to intimidate all judges who are defending the Constitution and the right to due process. It is another example of Trump’s efforts to implement racist policies of mass deportation and infringe on local control of government. Milwaukee County welcomes immigrants and does not want Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in our courthouses.”
Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Lindsay Schloemer wrote in the complaint against Dugan that law enforcement often makes arrests at the courthouse because “not only the fact that law enforcement knows the location at which the wanted individual should be located but also the fact that the wanted individual would have entered through a security checkpoint and thus unarmed, minimizing the risk of injury to law enforcement, the public, and the wanted individual.”
Schloemer made it clear that the courthouse arrests are not aimed at the general public, citing a pair of previous arrests from Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the Milwaukee County Courthouse that gained attention.
“Both incidents involved individuals who had been charged with criminal offenses but who were not in custody and appearing for scheduled hearings in their criminal cases,” Schloemer wrote. “I also am aware that pursuant to its policies, which had been made known to courthouse officials, the Milwaukee ICE ERO Task Force was focusing its resources on apprehending charged defendants making appearances in criminal cases – and not arresting victims, witnesses, or individuals appearing for matters in family or civil court.”
