Attorney Pam Bondi provided further details Friday regarding the arrest of Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan, who is accused of aiding an illegal immigrant to evade capture by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.
Dugan is being charged with two federal felony counts: obstruction and concealing an individual. She was arrested Friday at the Milwaukee County Courthouse, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
The illegal immigrant Dugan has been accused of helping is Mexican national Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, 30, who appeared in her courtroom on April 18 for a pre-trial conference.
He is now listed as being in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Juneau, Wisconsin.
Florez-Ruiz is charged with three counts of misdemeanor battery, including modifiers for domestic violence that could subject him to enhanced punishment if convicted.
Appearing on Fox News following Dugan’s arrest Friday, Bondi described the judge’s conduct in aiding Flores-Ruiz as “truly horrific.”
The attorney general recounted that the 30-year-old man was being prosecuted for beating a man and a woman to the point that they needed to go to the hospital.
When Dugan learned that ICE agents were outside the courtroom, prepared to arrest Flores-Ruiz, she went to confront them, Bondi said.
Based on Pam Bondi’s account, was the FBI correct to arrest Hannah Dugan?
“The judge screams at the immigration officers. She’s furious. Visibly shaken. Upset. Sends them off to talk to the chief judge,” Bondi said.
“She comes back in the courtroom — you’re not going to believe this — takes the defendant and the defense attorney back in her chambers. Takes them out a private exit and tells them to leave, while a state prosecutor and victims of domestic violence are sitting in the courtroom,” the attorney general added.
“Can’t make this up,” she said.
Fox News reported that, according to the arrest warrant, ICE agents chased Flores-Ruiz on foot outside the courthouse and ultimately apprehended him.
Bondi explained that when she and her colleagues at the Justice Department first heard of the incident, “We could not believe that a judge really did that,” but investigated the matter further and decided to charge Dugan.
The attorney general concluded, “You cannot obstruct a criminal case, and really, shame on her. It was a domestic violence case, of all cases, and she’s protecting a criminal defendant over victims of crime.”
On Friday morning, Dugan was seen leaving the federal courthouse in Milwaukee. She was released on her own recognizance, the New York Post reported.
Breaking: 🚨 Standards are being set, America. Another Judge has been arrested by the FBI in Wisconsin!
Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan is accused of obstructing the deportation of illegal aliens!
Thoughts on this, America? pic.twitter.com/BQaUvDA0tt
— Tom Homan Border Czar News Reports (@TomHoman_) April 25, 2025
“Judge Dugan wholeheartedly regrets and protests her arrest. It was not made in the interest of public safety,” defense attorney Craig Mastantuono said during the proceeding.
The judge declined to comment when leaving the courthouse.
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