Hannah Dugan, the former Wisconsin judge who tried to help an illegal immigrant evade an ICE arrest in her courtroom, was sentenced Wednesday to a $5,000 fine but allowed to escape any prison time.
U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman, a Clinton appointee overseeing the case, said she deserved leniency.
“I think this is a situation where an otherwise good person, upset by immigration policies in this country, made a bad decision in the moment,” the judge said.
Dugan had become a face of resistance to President Trump’s mass deportation crackdown last year after she was accused of trying to distract an immigration arrest team, then cutting short her proceedings against the illegal immigrant and ushering him out a nonpublic door to evade the officers.
The April 18, 2025, incident was an early flashpoint in the immigration debate, with Dugan claiming she was protecting the integrity of her Milwaukee courtroom and had a duty to assist the illegal immigrant.
A federal jury convicted her of obstructing a government proceeding, which is a felony. She was acquitted of a misdemeanor charge of attempting to conceal someone from arrest.
Prosecutors had asked for Dugan to serve time behind bars as a signal to others that interfering with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was unacceptable behavior — particularly when it involved a judge charged with upholding the law.
Dugan, 67, argued otherwise. She already resigned her county judge’s post, and said the government put her through the ignominy of being photographed and “intentionally shamed” during her arrest.
She also said she has faced threats and has become “a recluse” due to the threats.
Dugan remained defiant throughout her case, insisting she was defending her court’s proceedings.
“I have been cast as both a scofflaw and a hero. I am neither. I am a public servant who’s just trying to do my job,” she told the courtroom on Wednesday, according to The Associated Press.
Dugan was overseeing her courtroom on April 18, 2025, when Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, an illegal immigrant, showed up for a hearing on domestic violence charges. He had been accused of getting violent with housemates who objected to him playing music too loudly.
Several of the victims were in Dugan’s courtroom and said they were waiting for the hearing when she cut proceedings short and ushered him out a secondary door.
A federal agent had to chase Mr. Flores-Ruiz down on the streets outside the courthouse.
Homeland Security said Mr. Flores-Ruiz already had a lengthy rap sheet, including charges of strangulation and suffocation and battery. He had been deported before, too, and had sneaked back in.
He pleaded guilty last September to illegal reentry and was sentenced in November to time served. He was then deported.
Dugan is the second judge to face accusations of interfering with ICE.
In 2018, a twice-deported illegal immigrant evaded an ICE arrest after he was allowed to duck back into a Massachusetts courthouse lockup rather than be accosted by ICE officers. He then escaped out a back door.
Judge Shelley Richmond Joseph was accused of facilitating the illegal immigrant’s evasion. The Justice Department, under control of the Trump administration at the time, charged her.
In 2022, with President Biden at the helm, the Justice Department agreed to dismiss the case if Judge Joseph referred herself to state judicial disciplinary proceedings.
Among Judge Joseph’s accusers were an interpreter and a lawyer present in the courtroom, who said the judge was involved.
The state investigator who probed the case in the misconduct proceeding discounted those two witnesses as not credible, and instead accepted Judge Joseph’s claim that she was unaware of the escape plan.
The underlying issue in both cases is ICE’s ability to make immigration arrests at courthouses.
The Biden administration imposed restrictions on the practice.
The new Trump administration has lifted those limits, sparking fierce pushback from immigration activists and liberal figures in the legal world — including judges such as Dugan who say ICE’s presence interferes with their own cases.
In New York, a federal judge upheld that state’s law barring civil immigration arrests at state courthouses.
Contact the author
Please read our comment policy before commenting.