Milwaukee judge fails in bid to dismiss case over allegedly helping undocumented man evade arrest

Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan walks into the Milwaukee Federal Courthouse on May 15, 2025 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Judge Dugan has been charged with trying to help Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, an undocumented immigrant, elude federal arrest while he was making an appearance in her courtroom on April 18. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

(MILWAUKEE) — A federal judge in Wisconsin has denied Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan’s motion to dismiss federal charges alleging that she concealed an undocumented immigrant to prevent his arrest by immigration authorities.

In the decision, issued Tuesday, the judge did not agree with Dugan’s argument of judicial immunity.

“There is no basis for granting immunity simply because some of the allegations in the indictment describe conduct that could be considered ‘part of a judge’s job,'” Judge Lynn Adelman wrote.

The order follows an earlier magistrate judge’s recommendation to have the case continue.

Dugan was arrested in April and charged in a two-count federal indictment alleging she knowingly concealed a person sought for arrest by immigration authorities and for obstruction of official Department of Homeland Security removal proceedings. She has pleaded not guilty.

Her criminal case will go forward with a scheduling hearing set for Sept. 3.

Lawyers for Dugan, in part citing the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in President Donald Trump’s immunity case, had argued she has judicial immunity for official acts and her prosecution is unconstitutional. Prosecutors, meanwhile, had contended in court filings that her motion to dismiss the charges ignored “well-established law that has long permitted judges to be prosecuted for crimes they commit.”

According to federal prosecutors, Dugan encountered federal agents who were at Milwaukee County Circuit Court on April 18 to arrest an undocumented man appearing in her courtroom on a battery charge.

Prosecutors say that after speaking to the agents, Dugan directed them to the chief judge’s office down the hall and then sent the man and his attorney out a non-public door in an alleged attempt, authorities claim, to help him evade arrest on immigration violations.

The man was later arrested.

Dugan was arrested and charged a week following the incident.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court suspended Dugan in the wake of her arrest, stating in an order that it found it was “in the public interest that she be temporarily relieved of her official duties.”