Judge Hannah Dugan helped illegal alien, Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, escape an ICE arrest outside of her courtroom. (Credit Fox News)
A federal grand jury indicted Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan on May 13 on charges that she tried to assist an undocumented immigrant escape arrest from her courtroom last month, putting her at the center of the growing dispute between President Donald Trump and the judiciary.
The two-page indictment accuses Dugan, 66, of obstructing a U.S. agency and concealing an individual to prevent an arrest. The two charges carry a maximum penalty of six years in prison and a $350,000 fine, but sentences in cases involving nonviolent offenses typically are much shorter.
Dugan is expected to enter a plea at a May 15 hearing. But members of her defense team issued this statement: “As she said after her unnecessary arrest, Judge Dugan asserts her innocence and looks forward to being vindicated in court.”
The indictment came after a string of witnesses entered the federal courthouse throughout the day on May 13 to testify before the grand jury.
Among those making appearances were Alan Freed Jr., Dugan’s court clerk, and Mercedes de la Rosa, who was the attorney for Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, the undocumented immigrant at the center of the case. De la Rosa has withdrawn from his case. (Read more: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 5/13/2025) (Archive)