The Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested a Milwaukee County Circuit judge Friday, FBI Director Kash Patel said on social media, accusing her of helping an undocumented immigrant avoid arrest.
Judge Hannah Dugan is facing two charges for obstruction and concealing the individual from arrest, a law enforcement official told CNN.
“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,” Patel’s post read before it was quickly deleted. “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 is in federal custody as she awaits an initial court appearance, the law enforcement official said.
Brady McCarron, a spokesperson for the US Marshals Service, confirmed to CNN that Dugan was arrested at 8:30 a.m. ET Friday on local courthouse grounds, where she works. She was then processed by the federal Marshals Service.
She is expected to appear before a federal judge in the Eastern District of Wisconsin later Friday morning.
An arrest warrant and criminal complaint are not yet publicly available.
The arrest on federal charges is an escalation in the Trump administration’s focus on judges’ conduct, particularly as it relates to immigration enforcement. The Justice Department has repeatedly asserted that it will investigate any local officials who do not assist federal authorities on immigration matters.
Agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrived at the court last week and went immediately to Dugan’s courtroom, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported.
The Journal-Sentinel cited an email from Chief Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Carl Ashley, which said that “they were asked whether they had a warrant, and the agents presented the warrant as well as their identification.” The chief judge wrote that the ICE agents were told to wait until the court hearing had concluded.
Eduardo Flores-Ruiz was arrested on a federal criminal complaint earlier this week after he allegedly fled from Dugan’s courthouse when federal immigration authorities were planning to arrest him days earlier.
Court documents indicate that Flores-Ruiz learned the ICE agents were there to arrest him and “fled the building.” The agents confronted him outside the courthouse where he again ran away, but was soon “apprehended a short distance away.”
Flores-Ruiz has not yet entered a plea and is being detained, according to his federal court record. This would be a separate case from the alleged charge for Dugan.
This story has been updated with additional development.
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