Wisconsin Judge Pleads Not Guilty After Grand Jury Indictment, Claims 'Judicial Immunity’ For Hiding Illegal From ICE
A Wisconsin judge pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to charges that she obstructed federal agents seeking to detain an illegal immigrant in her courtroom.
Hannah Dugan during a forum at the Milwaukee Bar Association in Milwaukee in 2016.Mike De Sisti / USA Today Network fileMilwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan entered her plea during a Wednesday morning arraignment in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, one day after she was indicted by a federal grand jury following her April arrest by the FBI on charges that she helped Eduardo Flores-Ruiz and his attorney slide out the side of her courtroom on April 18 when ICE agents showed up to arrest him.
Dugan was charged with obstructing or impeding a proceeding before a department or agency of the United States and concealing an individual to prevent his discovery and arrest.
The two-page indictment accuses Dugan of confronting members of ICE and lying to them about needing a judicial warrant to conduct their operation. Dugan faces a maximum penalty of 6 years in prison and up to $350,000 in fines.
On Wednesday, Dugan claimed 'judicial immunity’ – citing President Trump’s Supreme Court ruling from last year.
„The problems with this prosecution are legion, but most immediately, the government cannot prosecute Judge Dugan because she is entitled to judicial immunity for her official acts,” her lawyers wrote in a motion filed on Wednesday. „Immunity is not a defense to the prosecution to be determined later by a jury or court; it is an absolute bar to the prosecution at the outset,” they wrote, citing Trump v. United States.
In her motion to dismiss, Dugan’s lawyers quote from the Trump immunity ruling, where it said, “In dividing official from unofficial conduct, courts may not inquire into the President’s motives.” They quoted that line to support the argument that her “subjective motivations are irrelevant to immunity.” They also cite the Trump immunity ruling’s quotation of a prior precedent that said the essence of immunity is the immunity possessor not having to answer for their conduct in court. “Judge Dugan therefore has both immunity from conviction and immunity from prosecution,” they wrote. -MSNBC
According to her attorney, Craig Mastantuono, „as she said after her unnecessary arrest, Judge Dugan asserts her innocence and looks forward to being vindicated in court.”
The state Supreme Court suspended Dugan while she contests charges of concealing Flores Ruiz and obstructing ICE.
On the day she was arrested, US Attorney General Pam Bondi said „If you are harboring a fugitive, we don’t care who you are, if you are helping hide…anyone who is illegally in this country, we will come after you and we will prosecute you. We will find you.”
FBI director Kash Patel said investigators believe Dugan „intentionally misdirected federal agents” away from Flores-Ruiz, as officers were preparing to arrest him in the courthouse where the judge works.
Eduardo Flores-Ruiz – who was previously deported to his home country in 2013, was accused in a domestic violence case assigned to Dugan, according to officials.
Milwaukee County court and police records reveal more information about the incident that landed Flores Ruiz in Dugan’s court on three domestic abuse-battery charges.
Three people told police that Flores Ruiz injured them during a March 12 verbal and physical altercation, after which two of them sought hospital treatment.
Miguel Mendoza-Figueroa alleged that Flores Ruiz “intentionally … struck him multiple times in his body and face, causing pain and scratches during a verbal argument about loud music,” the police report says.
The man reported being punched about 30 times.
* * *
When Deyci Torres Sierra, identified as Miguel’s girlfriend, tried to intervene, Flores Ruiz “struck her multiple times in her head” with his fist, inflicting pain, the report says.
A second woman, Maria Sierra Chihuahua, said she, too, tried to break up the fight, and Flores Ruiz “elbowed her in her upper left arm.”
Police said that, when questioned at the scene, Flores Ruiz described the incident as “a mutual fight” between himself and Mendoza-Figueroa, a court record shows.
In Other News
Trump’s pick for US Attorney for New Jersey, his former attorney Alina Habba, appeared on Wednesday in court to prosecute Newark Mayor Ras Baraka for raiding an ICE facility last week.
BREAKING: Alena Habba arrives outside Newark court for Newark Mayor for Ras Baraka’s hearing following ICE arrest outside Delaney Hall
Video by @peterhvideo @FreedomNTV [email protected] to license pic.twitter.com/0uplFCCBzF
— Oliya Scootercaster (@ScooterCasterNY) May 15, 2025
Baraka was arrested for trespassing at an ICE center in New Jersey – arriving at the facility with a cadre of protesters and Democrat representatives. He is seen in bodycam in an argument with officers and apparently refusing to leave the area, at least initially. The details of the arrest are not yet clear, but the establishment media is running with the narrative that this is political persecution on the part of the Trump Administration.
The arrest led to an angry flurry by protesters including at least one Dem representative who seemed to physically attack officers. Democratic representatives Bonnie Watson Coleman, LaMonica McIver and Rob Menendez visited the center known as Delaney Hall on Friday saying they wanted to „inspect” the facility. Their posture became confrontational when they were apparently denied entry.
Tyler Durden
Thu, 05/15/2025 – 12:25
