A Milwaukee judge arrested for allegedly hiding an undocumented migrant from ICE has a sign on her courtroom offering Zoom hearings to those who ‘felt unsafe’ coming to court.
‘If any attorney, witness coordinator, or other court official knows or believes that a person feels unsafe coming to the courthouse to courtroom 615, please notify the branch 31 clerk to request court appearance via ZOOM,’ reads the sign on County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan’s door.
It’s not uncommon for judges to offer Zoom hearings for victims of violent crimes who fear facing their aggressors. But the sign is circulating online following Dugan’s arrest Friday, which has sent waves across the political spectrum.
Dugan was taken into custody by the FBI on the courthouse grounds, according to US Marshals Service spokesperson Brady McCarron. She appeared briefly in federal court in Milwaukee later Friday before being released from custody. Her next court appearance is May 15.
‘Judge Dugan wholeheartedly regrets and protests her arrest. It was not made in the interest of public safety,’ her attorney, Craig Mastantuono, said during the hearing.
Dugan is accused of escorting the man, Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, and his lawyer out of the courtroom through the jury door on April 18 as a way to help avert his arrest, according to an FBI affidavit filed in court.
Ruiz, who is from Mexico, had been charged with battery for allegedly punching someone 30 times in the face after they complained about his loud music.
The affidavit suggests that Dugan was alerted to the presence of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in the courthouse by her clerk, who was informed by an attorney that they appeared to be in the hallway.
A sign on Milwaukee Judge Hannah Dugan’s door is seen on Friday, the day of her arrest for accusations that she hid an undocumented migrant from ICE
Milwaukee County circuit judge Hannah Dugan is accused of obstructing the arrest of an undocumented migrant
She was taken into custody Friday at the Milwaukee County Courthouse
The affidavit describes Dugan as ‘visibly angry’ over the arrival of immigration agents in the courthouse and says that she pronounced the situation ‘absurd’ before leaving the bench and retreating to her chambers.
It says she and another judge later approached members of the arrest team inside the courthouse, displaying what witnesses described as a ‘confrontational, angry demeanor.’
She asked one of the officers if they had a judicial warrant and was told that the warrant was instead administrative. After a back-and-forth over the warrant, the affidavit says, she demanded that the arrest team speak with the chief judge and led them away from the courtroom.
After directing the arrest team to the chief judge’s office, investigators say Dugan returned to the courtroom was and was heard saying words to the effect of ‘wait, come with me’ before ushering Flores-Ruiz and his lawyer through a jury door into a non-public area of the courthouse.
The action was unusual, the affidavit says, because ‘only deputies, juries, court staff, and in-custody defendants being escorted by deputies used the back jury door. Defense attorneys and defendants who were not in custody never used the jury door.’
Dugan was elected in 2016 to the county court Branch 31. She also has served in the court’s probate and civil divisions, according to her judicial candidate biography.
Protesters demonstrated outside federal courthouse Friday in Milwaukee after county Judge Hannah Dugan was arrested
Dugan is accused of escorting the man, Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, and his lawyer out of the courtroom through the jury door on April 18 as a way to help avert his arrest
Before being elected to public office, Dugan practiced at Legal Action of Wisconsin and the Legal Aid Society. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1981 with a bachelor of arts degree and earned her Juris Doctorate in 1987 from the school.
Dugan’s arrest comes amid a growing feud between the Trump administration and the judiciary over the president’s executive actions on immigration and other matters. Trump administration officials have sharply criticized what they have described as ‘activist’ judges they say claim have overstepped their authority and unfairly impinged on the president’s executive powers by blocking many of his efforts.
Sen. Tammy Baldwin, a Democrat who represents Wisconsin, called the arrest of a sitting judge a ‘gravely serious and drastic move’ that ‘threatens to breach’ the separation of power between the executive and judicial branches.
‘Make no mistake, we do not have kings in this country and we are a Democracy governed by laws that everyone must abide by,’ Baldwin said in an emailed statement. ‘By relentlessly attacking the judicial system, flouting court orders, and arresting a sitting judge, this President is putting those basic Democratic values that Wisconsinites hold dear on the line.’
