Former Wisconsin judge avoids prison in ICE obstruction case

Former Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan was spared prison Wednesday for helping a defendant leave her courtroom as federal immigration agents waited to arrest him, receiving a $5,000 fine in a case that drew national attention over immigration enforcement in courthouses.

U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman said Dugan, 67, made a serious mistake but did not need to be incarcerated. Federal sentencing guidelines called for 15 to 21 months in prison, though Adelman was not bound by them.

“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,” Adelman said.

Dugan was convicted in December of felony obstruction of a federal proceeding. Jurors acquitted her of a separate misdemeanor charge of concealing an individual to prevent arrest.

The case stemmed from an April 18, 2025, incident at the Milwaukee County courthouse. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents had gone there after learning that Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, a 31-year-old Mexican man, had reentered the United States illegally and was scheduled to appear before Dugan in a state battery case. Al Jazeera reported that Flores-Ruiz had reentered the country a few days after being deported in 2013 and that the battery case stemmed from a fight with his roommate.

Prosecutors said Dugan confronted the agents outside her courtroom and directed them to the chief judge’s office, telling them their administrative warrant was not sufficient to arrest Flores-Ruiz. Her attorneys said she was following courthouse protocols that called for court employees to report immigration agents to supervisors.

After the agents left, Dugan led Flores-Ruiz and his attorney out through a private jury door. Agents spotted Flores-Ruiz in a corridor, followed him outside and arrested him after a foot chase. FBI agents arrested Dugan at the courthouse a week later and led her outside in handcuffs. Flores-Ruiz was deported in November, CBS News reported.

Dugan told the court Wednesday that she did not act maliciously and was trying to preserve “the decorum and safety of the courtroom.”

“I have been cast as both a scofflaw and a hero. I am neither,” she said. “I am a public servant who’s just trying to do my job.”

Dugan said threats against her and her family had forced her to retire from public life. She resigned in January from the judgeship she had held for nine years, amid threats of impeachment from Republican state lawmakers who called her an activist judge. In her resignation letter, she said her prosecution threatened “the independence of our judiciary.”

Prosecutors argued that Dugan violated her oath and endangered law enforcement and the public. “Judges are entrusted with tremendous discretion, but there is a line they cannot cross,” Executive Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Frohling wrote in a sentencing memo. “The defendant crossed that line.”

Frohling acknowledged in court that Dugan had “experienced collateral damage because of her conduct,” but said “judges can’t choose to disregard the law.” Prosecutors did not recommend a specific sentence, but said the offense warranted a serious punishment.

Dugan’s attorneys said she had already been “punished enough” and should not serve jail time beyond the hours she spent in federal custody. They also argued during trial that President Donald Trump’s administration sought to “crush” Dugan to ensure judicial compliance with its strategy of targeting immigrants at court hearings.

Adelman cited Dugan’s public service, loss of her job, felony conviction and threats that forced her to move and stop attending community events. He also noted that her actions did not prevent Flores-Ruiz’s arrest.

“This is a few minutes of conduct for someone who has dedicated her life to public service,” Adelman said. “It’s a marked deviation from an otherwise law-abiding life.”

Attorney Jason Luczak said after sentencing that Dugan would appeal her obstruction conviction.