A Wisconsin judge was arrested Friday on obstruction charges after the FBI said she helped an illegal alien from Mexico evade Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in her courtroom.
Judge Hannah Dugan is accused of concealing Eduardo Flores-Ruiz from arrest following a pre-trial hearing last week. According to a 13-page complaint, Dugan, 65, was charged on Friday with two federal felonies for obstructing a U.S. agency and concealing an individual to prevent an arrest.
According to a criminal complaint, an ICE agent and a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) official arrived outside Dugan’s courtroom on April 18 with a warrant for the arrest of Flores-Ruiz. The agents were told by a security guard and a sheriff’s sergeant to wait outside until after the hearing.
Flores-Ruiz, 30, was appearing before Judge Dugan on April 18 for a pre-trial conference on three misdemeanor battery charges stemming from a fight the previous month in which he was accused of punching another person 30 times after being accused of playing music too loudly, according to a police report obtained by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
While the team assigned to arrest Flores-Ruiz, which included FBI and DEA agents, waited for the hearing to conclude, a public defender informed Dugan’s clerk that “there appeared to be ICE agents in the hallway.”
After speaking with the clerk, Dugan “became visibly angry” and left the bench to confront the federal agents, according to an affidavit by a FBI special agent. After initially demanding that the officers leave the building if they were not there for a court appearance, Dugan allegedly directed the federal agents away from her courtroom to the chief judge’s office.
After Flores-Ruiz’s appearance was completed with him watching from the jury box, the affidavit states, the deputy heard Dugan “say something like, ‘Wait, come with me' ” before escorting Flores-Ruiz and his attorney out of the courtroom’s “jury door” to a non-public area of the courthouse, where the chief judge had advised the feds that they could not arrest Flores-Ruiz.
“These events were also unusual for two reasons,” the complaint states. “First, the courtroom deputy had previously heard Judge Dugan direct people not to sit in the jury box because it was exclusively for the jury’s use. Second, according to the courtroom deputy, 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.”
Flores-Ruiz and his attorney made it out of the courthouse before the suspect was arrested by a FBI and DEA agent following a brief foot chase.
“We believe Judge Dugan intentionally misdirected federal agents away from the subject to be arrested in her courthouse, Eduardo Flores Ruiz, allowing the subject — an illegal alien — to evade arrest,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in an X post. “Thankfully our agents chased down the perp on foot and he’s been in custody since, but the Judge’s obstruction created increased danger to the public.”
Dugan appeared briefly in Milwaukee federal court Friday morning before being released after prosecutors said they would not ask for her detention before trial. Her arraignment has been set for 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.
Dugan is the second judge in recent months to be accused of assisting illegal aliens.
On March 3, Dona Ana County Magistrate Judge Joel Cano, a Democrat, resigned from the bench where he had sat since 2011 days after Homeland Security Investigations executed a search warrant at his residence and arrested alleged Tren de Aragua gang member Cristhian Ortega-Lopez, 23, who had reportedly been staying at Cano’s residence at the family’s invitation, WorldTribune.com reported.
On Thursday, Cano and his wife were arrested on charges related to their reported harboring of Ortega-Lopez.
Cano and his wife, Nancy Cano, both face charges of tampering with evidence, jail records show.
NEW: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raided the home of former Dona Ana County Magistrate Judge Joel Cano, arresting his wife, Nancy. The couple allegedly harbored an illegal immigrant Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang member.
Investigators believe Nancy, Judge… pic.twitter.com/JBt9OkLAPQ — RedWave Press (@RedWave_Press) April 24, 2025
Nobody should be surprised by the arrest of two judges. I have said many times within the past few months, that people can choose to support illegal immigration and not assist ICE in removing criminal illegal aliens from our communities, BUT DON’T CROSS THAT LINE. If you…
— Thomas D. Homan (@RealTomHoman) April 25, 2025
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