MILWAUKEE — Thousands of protesters chanted and marched Saturday outside the FBI after agents arrested a Milwaukee judge accused of helping a man evade immigration authorities. The case has escalated a clash between the Trump administration and local authorities over the Republican president’s sweeping immigration crackdown.
Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan is accused of escorting the man and his lawyer out of her courtroom through the jury door last week after learning that immigration authorities were seeking his arrest. The man was taken into custody outside the courthouse after agents chased him on foot.
President Donald Trump’s administration has accused state and local officials of interfering with his immigration enforcement priorities. The arrest also comes amid a growing battle between the administration and the federal judiciary over the president’s executive actions over deportations and other matters.
On Saturday, protesters chanted “Immigrants are here to stay” and held up signs saying, “Liberty and Justice for All” outside the FBI’s Milwaukee division.
“The judiciary acts as a check to unchecked executive power. And functioning democracies do not lock up judges,” Democratic state Rep. Ryan Clancy told the crowd before it marched around the area.
Dugan was taken into custody by the FBI on Friday morning on the courthouse grounds, according to U.S. Marshals Service spokesperson Brady McCarron. She appeared briefly in federal court in Milwaukee later Friday before being released from custody. She faces charges of “concealing an individual to prevent his discovery and arrest” and obstructing or impeding a proceeding.
Court papers suggest Dugan was alerted to the presence of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in the courthouse by her clerk, who was informed by an attorney that they appeared to be in the hallway.
The FBI affidavit describes Dugan as “visibly angry” over the arrival of immigration agents in the courthouse. It says she and another judge later approached members of the arrest team inside the courthouse, displaying what witnesses described as a “confrontational, angry demeanor.”
After a back-and-forth with officers over the warrant for the man, Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, she demanded that the arrest team speak with the chief judge and led them away from the courtroom, the affidavit says.
After directing the arrest team to the chief judge’s office, investigators say, Dugan returned to the courtroom and ushered Flores-Ruiz and his lawyer through a jury door into a non-public area of the courthouse.
Supporters of Dugan at Saturday’s protest say she did nothing wrong.
“Telling somebody to use a different door to go out of a courtroom isn’t a crime. This guy, he doesn’t seem like a very nice person, right? He’s done some bad things. Apparently. Allegedly. Right? I don’t know that he hasn’t gone through his due process yet. And that’s what the problem, is that they are not following due process,” said protester Daniel Bisping.
Flores-Ruiz, 30, was in Dugan’s court for a hearing after being charged with three counts of misdemeanor domestic battery. Confronted by a roommate for playing loud music on March 12, Flores-Ruiz allegedly fought with him in the kitchen and struck a woman who tried to break them up, according to the police affidavit in the case.
Another woman who tried to break up the fight and called police allegedly got elbowed in the arm by Flores-Ruiz.
Flores-Ruiz faces up to nine months in prison and a $10,000 fine on each count if convicted. His public defender, Alexander Kostal, did not immediately return a phone message Friday seeking comment.
A federal judge, the same one Dugan would appear before a day later, had ordered Thursday that Flores-Ruiz remain jailed pending trial. Flores-Ruiz had been in the U.S. since reentering the country after he was deported in 2013, according to court documents.
Organizers at Saturday’s protest argued that immigrants — legal or not — have rights under the U.S. Constitution’s Fifth Amendment.
“She is simply doing what every judge in the state should be doing, is making sure that every person in this country gets due process, regardless of their status,” said Julie Velazquez of Milwaukee Alliance Against Racism and Political Repression.
Protestors said the message is plain and simple: “hands off our judges.”
Spectrum News reached out to the FBI Milwaukee field office for comment regarding Saturday’s protest but has yet to hear back.
Another protest in support of Dugan is scheduled for May 1 at 9 a.m. in Milwaukee.