Judge arrested
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The FBI is looking into whether veteran Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan tried to help an undocumented immigrant avoid arrest when that person was scheduled to appear in her courtroom last week, sources told the Journal Sentinel.
In an email to judges, Chief Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Carl Ashley said agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement came to the Milwaukee County Courthouse on April 18 with an arrest warrant. But his note made no mention of Dugan or a federal investigation into her conduct.
ICE spokesperson Alethea Smock declined to comment.
"We have no information to provide at this point," Smock said in an email.
The FBI said in an email on April 23: "As a standard practice, the FBI does not confirm or deny the existence of investigations."
The Journal Sentinel reached out to Dugan by phone, at her courtroom and via email in recent days. In an April 22 email, Dugan said, "Nearly every fact regarding the 'tips' in your email is inaccurate."
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Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan was charged April 25 with two felonies for her role in helping an undocumented immigrant avoid arrest after he appeared in her courtroom last week.
Dugan, 65, appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Stephen C. Dries during a brief hearing in a packed courtroom at the federal courthouse. Dugan, who was wearing a black dress with white flowers, made no public comments during the brief hearing.
As it ended, her attorney, Craig Mastantuono, told the court: "Judge Dugan wholeheartedly regrets and protests her arrest. It was not made in the interest of public safety."
The federal criminal charges have not yet been made available.
But Brady McCarron, spokesman for U.S. Marshals Service in Washington, D.C., said Dugan is being charged with two federal felony counts: obstruction and concealing an individual. McCarron also confirmed Dugan was arrested at about 8 a.m. at the Milwaukee County Courthouse.
U.S. Attorney Pam Bondi posted on X: "I can confirm that our @FBI agents just arrested Hannah Dugan – a county judge in Milwaukee – for allegedly helping an illegal alien avoid an arrest by @ICEgov."
Earlier, FBI Director Kash Patel posted and later deleted a tweet about the arrest.
"Just NOW, the FBI arrested Judge Hannah Dugan out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin on charges of obstruction — after evidence of Judge Dugan obstructing an immigration arrest operation last week," Patel wrote. "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."
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A Wisconsin judge charged with helping a man in her court briefly evade immigration authorities has added prominent conservative lawyer and leading U.S. Supreme Court advocate Paul Clement to her defense team.
Hannah Dugan, a Milwaukee County circuit judge, was charged on Friday with obstructing a government proceeding and concealing an individual to prevent arrest.
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Clement did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Mastantuono Coffee & Thomas, a Wisconsin-based firm representing Dugan, confirmed Clement's addition to the legal team on Tuesday.
Clement, a U.S. solicitor general during the Republican administration of George W. Bush who has argued more than 100 cases before the Supreme Court, has clashed with the Trump administration in other cases.
He is representing WilmerHale in its lawsuit challenging an executive order President Donald Trump signed last month targeting the U.S. law firm's business with federal contractors and restricting its access to government officials and buildings.
Clement also opposed the administration's bid to withdraw the federal corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams with the potential to refile charges. A judge earlier this month dismissed the case permanently after Clement, acting as a court-appointed adviser, said it would otherwise hang over Adams like a "sword of Damocles."The Wisconsin Supreme Court has suspended a judge accused of helping a man evade immigration authorities.
The FBI took Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan into custody on Friday morning at the county courthouse. She faces federal charges of concealing an individual to prevent his discovery and arrest and obstructing or impeding a proceeding.
In its two-page order, the state Supreme Court said it was acting on its own initiative and not responding to a request from anyone. Liberal justices control the court 4-3.
"In the exercise of that constitutional authority and in order to uphold the public's confidence in the courts of this state during the pendency of the criminal proceedings against Judge Dugan, we conclude, in our own motion, that it is in the public interest that she be temporarily relieved of her official duties," the court ruled.
