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<p class="has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-1 wp-block-paragraph" style="color:#1c0303;font-size:14px"><strong>Federal prosecutors charged Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan with obstruction, a felony, and concealing an individual to prevent arrest, a misdemeanor, in April</strong></p>



<p class="has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-2 wp-block-paragraph" style="color:#1c0303;font-size:14px"><strong>The Wisconsin judge it is alleged, helped Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, evade arrest when he appeared in her courtroom on April 18 for a pretrial hearing in a domestic abuse case </strong></p>



<p class="has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-3 wp-block-paragraph" style="color:#1c0303;font-size:14px"><strong>Indictment accused Judge Dugan of &#8216;knowingly&#8217; concealing the undocumented migrant, so he wouldn&#8217;t be discovered and arrested by officers with Immigration and Customs Enforcement </strong></p>



<p class="has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-4 wp-block-paragraph" style="color:#1c0303;font-size:14px"><strong>After after deliberating for six hours, jury acquitted Dugan on the concealment count, but she still faces up to five years in prison on the obstruction count </strong></p>



<p class="has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-5 wp-block-paragraph" style="color:#1c0303;font-size:14px"><strong>Trump administration branded her an activist judge, Democrats accuse White House of making an example of Dugan to blunt judicial opposition to the operation</strong></p>



<p class="has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-6 wp-block-paragraph" style="color:#1c0303;font-size:14px"><strong>DHS announced in November that Flores-Ruiz, the migrant at the heart of the legal tussle, had been deported</strong></p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Hannah-Dugan-4.png" alt="" class="wp-image-490775"/></figure>



<p class="has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Wisconsin judge Hannah Dugan [photo], has been convicted of obstruction for helping a Mexican immigrant evade ICE &#8211; Characterized by the Trump administration as a setback for the crackdown on illegal migration</strong></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Federal efforts to prosecute an &#8216;activist&#8217; anti-immigration crackdown jurist, proved successful Thursday after Wisconsin judge Hannah Dugan was found guilty of obstruction for helping a Mexican immigrant evade ICE, eight months ago.<br>After pulling the plug on the efforts of ICE agents to enforce Donald Trump&#8217;s crackdown on illegal migration at her court house, Federal prosecutors charged Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan with obstruction, a felony, and concealing an individual to prevent arrest, a misdemeanor, in April.<br>The indictment accused Dugan of &#8216;knowingly&#8217; concealing an undocumented migrant, Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, preventing his arrest by officers with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.<br>Dugan allegedly helped Flores-Ruiz evade arrest when he appeared in her courtroom on April 18, for a pretrial hearing in a domestic abuse case.<br>The action of the judge, considered political tinder, flew in the face of federal migration control measures.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Eduardo-Flores-Ruiz-1.png" alt="" class="wp-image-490773" style="width:835px;height:auto"/></figure>



<p class="has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph"><strong>The indictment accused Judge Dugan of &#8216;knowingly&#8217; concealing an undocumented migrant, Eduardo Flores-Ruiz [photo], so he wouldn&#8217;t be discovered and arrested by officers with ICE, who came to arrest the migrant in her chambers</strong></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"> After deliberating for six hours, the jury Wednesday returned the verdict, convicting on half of the charges. Dugan was convict for obstruction, though she was acquitted on the concealment charge on which she will be facing up to five years in prison at sentencing, which is yet to be scheduled.<br>Prosecuting the state judge has been polarizing. <br>The Trump administration branded Dugan an activist judge. <br>Democrats have accused the White House making an example of Dugan to blunt judicial opposition to the immigration crackdown.<br>Speaking after the verdict, Dugan&#8217;s lead attorney, Steve Biskupic, expressed disappointment with the ruling. Biskupic said he could not understand how the jury could have reached a split verdict since the elements of both charges were virtually the same.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Hannah-Dugan-center-3.png" alt="" class="wp-image-490772" style="width:835px;height:auto"/></figure>



<p class="has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Judge Dugan [center], arrives court where the jury convicted for obstruction after six hours deliberation. However, she was acquitted on the count of concealment. She is facing up to five years in prison</strong></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">On his part, US Attorney Brad Schimel denied the case was political and urging people to accept the verdict peacefully. <br> It is not unfair for law enforcement to arrest wanted people in courthouses, said Schimel, adding that courthouse arrests are safer because people are screened for weapons. &#8216;Some have sought to make this about a larger political battle,&#8217; Schimel said. <br>&#8216;While this case is serious for all involved, it is ultimately about a single day, a single bad day, in a public courthouse. The defendant is certainly not evil. Nor is she a martyr for some greater cause.&#8217;<br>US Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche praised the verdict on X, saying nobody is above the law, even judges. </p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Hannah-Dugan-8.png" alt="" class="wp-image-490778" style="aspect-ratio:1.3761624825704009;width:836px;height:auto"/></figure>



<p class="has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph"><strong>The Trump administration branded Hannah Dugan an &#8216;activist judge.&#8217; On May 13, she was indicted on charges of obstructing a federal agency and aiding Eduardo Flores-Ruiz&#8217;s evade arrest</strong>. </p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Ahead of the trial, the Wisconsin Supreme Court suspended Dugan from the bench in May, claiming it was in the public interest to relieve her of her duties as she faces the federal charges.<br>Back in April, Flores-Ruiz, 31, was in the judge&#8217;s chambers after he was accused of punching someone 30 times in the face when they complained he was playing loud music.<br>He was charged with three counts of misdemeanor battery for allegedly assaulting three people on March 12.<br>According to ICE and the Department of Homeland Security, Eduardo Flores-Ruiz is a migrant from Mexico whose presence in the US is illegal. Flores-Ruiz feds said was deported in 2013, and never sought legal permission to return.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Hannah-Dugan-confronts-ICE-agents-outside-her-courtroom-on-April-18-2025.png" alt="" class="wp-image-490777" style="width:840px;height:auto"/></figure>



<p class="has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Judge Dugan is seen on surveillance footage outside her courtroom on April 18, confronting federal agents who were there to arrest Flores-Ruiz. Democrats accused the White House of making an example of Dugan to blunt judicial opposition to the drastic immigration crackdown </strong></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">ICE agents in Milwaukee alerted to his hearing at the Milwaukee County Courthouse on April 18, showed up to arrest him. The six ICE agents in &#8216;plain clothes&#8217; arrived at the courthouse and presented their identifications to a security guard, according to a criminal complaint.<br>The hearing was in the chambers of Judge Dugan. Notified of the presence of the agents, she became &#8216;visibly angry,&#8217; calling their presence &#8216;absurd,&#8217; and left the bench.<br>During a confrontation with the agents outside her chambers, she allegedly asked the officers to leave and informed them they needed a judicial warrant to arrest Flores-Ruiz. <br>Directing the agents to the chief judge, she helped Flores-Ruiz and his attorney leave through a &#8216;jury door,&#8217; the criminal complaint stated.<br>The affidavit further states that Dugan told Flores-Ruiz and his attorney, &#8216;wait come with me&#8217; before they left the courthouse, directing them to a back jury door.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Hannah-Dugan-5-1.png" alt="" class="wp-image-490776" style="width:835px;height:auto"/></figure>



<p class="has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Prosecutors worked during Dugan´s trial to show that Judge Hannah Dugan <strong>she directed agents to the chief judge´s office to create an opening for Flores-Ruiz to es</strong>cape from the Milwaukee County Courthouse</strong></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The courtroom deputy told investigators that the door is only used for deputies, juries, court staff, and defendants already in custody.<br>They added that defense attorneys and defendants who weren&#8217;t in custody &#8216;never&#8217; used that door.<br>Dugan allegedly adjourned the case without the state attorney&#8217;s knowledge, according to the criminal complaint.<br>Flores-Ruiz and his attorney allegedly took an elevator and left the courthouse before ICE agents followed them.<br>ICE agents saw him outside the courthouse, and he ran away when they approached him.<br>Flores-Ruiz was apprehended by ICE agents, and Dugan was arrested and charged with obstructing a proceeding of a federal agency and concealing an individual to prevent arrest. <br>Prosecutors worked during Dugan´s trial to show that she directed agents to the chief judge´s office to create an opening for Flores-Ruiz to escape.<br>An FBI agent who led the investigation testified that after agents left the corridor, she immediately moved Flores-Ruiz&#8217;s case to the top of her docket, told him that he could appear for his next hearing via Zoom and led him out the private door.<br>Prosecutors also played audio recordings from her courtroom in which she can be heard telling her court reporter that she´d take &#8216;the heat&#8217; for leading Flores-Ruiz out the back.<br>Her attorneys countered that she was trying to follow courthouse protocols that called for court employees to report any immigration agents to their supervisors and she didn´t intentionally try to obstruct the arrest team. <br>The US Department of Homeland Security announced in November that Flores-Ruiz, the migrant at the heart of the legal tussle, had been deported.</p>

Wisconsin judge, Hannah Dugan, convicted on felony ‘obstruction’ for helping illegal migrant ‘evade arrest’, faces up to five years in jail
