Trump DOJ Calls Judge Who Obstructed ICE 'Absurd' For Trying To Get Guilty Verdict Tossed
A sentencing date has not yet been set for Hannah Dugan.
Federal prosecutors have filed arguments opposing a former Milwaukee County Judge’s request to overturn her conviction.
Hannah Dugan was arrested on April 25, 2025, by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and indicted on federal charges after she informed a defendant who was an undocumented immigrant of the presence of federal immigration agents. Authorities said she helped him exit the courthouse without being noticed.
The individual was Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, a 30-year-old from Mexico, who was appearing in Dugan’s court in a domestic abuse case.
The 66-year-old former Wisconsin circuit court judge is asking U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman to overturn her guilty verdict or grant a new trial.
In response, the U.S. Department of Justice argued in a 45-page filing that Dugan’s attorneys rely “on arguments that she has waived or which the Court already has rejected,” according to Wisconsin Public Radio.
Dugan has been suspended from her judicial duties by the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
“Nothing … in the cases cited by Dugan authorizes a Wisconsin judge to interfere with the enforcement of federal immigration law,” the filing said. “Dugan’s claim that she had the right ‘to take multiple legal steps, regardless of motive’ is absurd,” federal prosecutors stated.
Dugan has been suspended from her judicial duties by the Wisconsin Supreme Court. On December 18, 2025, a federal jury found her guilty of one felony count of obstructing federal agents but acquitted her of a misdemeanor charge of concealing a wanted person. Following the verdict, Dugan resigned from the bench in a letter addressed to Governor Tony Evers.
Dugan’s Claims
In January, Dugan’s attorneys argued immigration agents lacked legal authority to make arrests within a courthouse. The agents arrived with an administrative warrant signed by an official from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Dugan’s lawyers argued that the warrant was not legally sufficient.
They argued court decisions have established there’s a “common-law privilege” shielding people from immigration arrests within courthouses.
“Arrests at the courthouse are a common practice and can be made in a public hallway with or even without a warrant based on probable cause,” federal prosecutors stated in the latest filing on February 20.
Because she knew ICE could operate in the hallways, prosecutors claimed Dugan prepared a sign for her courtroom door, stating that “if any attorney, witness coordinator, or court official felt unsafe coming to court in person, they could request to appear by Zoom,” according to Law&Crime.
Prosecutors pressed on how the former judge did not raise the argument on the legality of immigration arrests at the courthouse before trial. “Dugan did not argue, in her voluminous pretrial motions to dismiss, that the indictment failed to state an offense because Flores-Ruiz was privileged from arrest in the courthouse,” the Department of Justice (DOJ) response says.
ICE arrests in courthouses have always been subject to debate. President Donald Trump's administration argued that such arrests are safer because individuals go through metal detectors before entering a court.
However, some argued that ICE's presence in courthouses discourages people from showing up to court dates and makes them fearful of taking the stand as witnesses to criminal activities.
A sentencing date has not yet been set for Dugan; according to reports, she faces up to five years in prison.
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