The Wisconsin judge arrested last month and accused of helping an undocumented immigrant evade federal agents was indicted by a federal grand jury on Tuesday on charges of concealing a person from arrest and obstruction of proceedings.
The indictment of the judge, Hannah C. Dugan of the Milwaukee County Circuit Court, was a routine but significant step in the Justice Department’s case against her. The Trump administration has defended the prosecution as a warning that no one is above the law, while many Democrats, lawyers and former judges have denounced it as an assault on the judiciary.
Judge Dugan, who has been temporarily removed from the bench by the Wisconsin Supreme Court while the case against her advances, has indicated through a lawyer that she intends to fight the charges. She is expected to appear in court on Thursday.
“Judge Hannah C. Dugan has committed herself to the rule of law and the principles of due process for her entire career as a lawyer and a judge,” her lawyers said in a statement shortly after she was arrested. They added that she “will defend herself vigorously, and looks forward to being exonerated.”
The judge’s transformation from a little-known local jurist to a face of the national immigration debate began on April 18 with a pretrial hearing in a domestic abuse case against Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, a Mexican immigrant.
Several federal officials from different agencies had gathered in the hallway outside Judge Dugan’s courtroom and had planned to arrest Mr. Flores-Ruiz, who they said was in the country illegally, after his court appearance. The federal agents had told courthouse security officers and the judge’s courtroom deputy about their plans, according to an F.B.I. charging document.
When Judge Dugan became aware of the federal agents, the charging document said, she became “visibly upset and had a confrontational, angry demeanor.” According to the criminal complaint, the judge confronted the agents and told them to talk to the chief judge of the courthouse. She then returned to her courtroom and, according to the charging document, directed Mr. Flores-Ruiz through a different exit than the public door that led to the hallway where agents were waiting.
“Despite having been advised of the administrative warrant for the arrest of Flores-Ruiz, Judge Dugan then escorted Flores-Ruiz and his counsel out of the courtroom through the ‘jury door,’ which leads to a nonpublic area of the courthouse,” according to the complaint, which was written by an F.B.I. agent.
Mr. Flores-Ruiz made it outside the courthouse, the charging document said, where a Drug Enforcement Administration agent spotted him. Agents approached him on the street outside the courthouse. “A foot chase ensued,” the complaint said. “The agents pursued Flores-Ruiz for the entire length of the courthouse” before catching and arresting him, the complaint said. Federal agents said Mr. Flores-Ruiz was removed from the United States in 2013 and that there was no record of him seeking or receiving permission to return.
Judge Dugan was arrested and charged with obstructing a proceeding of a federal agency, and concealing an individual to prevent his discovery and arrest.
The arrest of the judge marked an escalation of the Trump administration’s warnings that local officials must not impede federal efforts to deport millions of undocumented immigrants. Attorney General Pam Bondi and other administration officials have defended the case against Judge Dugan.
“It doesn’t matter what line of work you are in, if you break the law, we will follow the facts and we will prosecute you,” Ms. Bondi said in a video.
Elected Democrats in Wisconsin and beyond have criticized the case against the judge and accused prosecutors of politicizing the situation. And earlier this month, more than 150 former state and federal judges signed a letter to Ms. Bondi calling the arrest of Judge Dugan an attempt to intimidate the judiciary.
“This cynical effort undermines the rule of law,” that letter said, “and destroys the trust the American people have in the nation’s judges to administer justice in the courtrooms and in the halls of justice across the land.”
Julie Bosman contributed reporting.
Mitch Smith is a Chicago-based national correspondent for The Times, covering the Midwest and Great Plains.
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