US judge arrested after allegedly obstructing immigration agents

A judge in Wisconsin has been arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation after allegedly trying to help an undocumented immigrant who appeared in her court avoid arrest.

FBI agents took Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan into custody on Friday morning, officials said.

In a post on X, which was deleted minutes later, FBI Director Kash Patel alleged that Dugan allowed Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, a Mexican national facing three misdemeanour battery counts stemming from a fight, to escape from her courtroom.

Dugan was charged with obstruction and concealing an individual to avoid arrest, and faces a maximum of six years in prison if convicted on both charges.

During a hearing on Friday, a lawyer for Dugan said she "wholeheartedly regrets and protests her arrest". "It was not made in the interest of public safety."

She was released on her own recognisance pending a hearing on 15 May.

An immigration judge had issued a warrant for Flores-Ruiz's arrest on 17 April, according to court documents filed in the case by the FBI.

The following day, Flores-Ruiz appeared in the Milwaukee court for a scheduled hearing, and officers from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) and the FBI went to the courthouse to make the arrest.

Dugan became agitated when she learned that immigration agents were in the courthouse and directed several of them to the office of the county's chief justice, an FBI special agent wrote in the court document.

While they were there, the document says, the judge ushered Flores-Ruiz and his lawyer to a side door meant for jury members leading out of the courtroom.

Flores-Ruiz, who authorities say had previously been deported from the US in 2013, managed to leave the courthouse but was arrested just minutes later after a short foot chase.

Attorney General Pam Bondi posted on X that Dugan was detained "for allegedly helping an illegal alien avoid an arrest... No one is above the law".

Dugan was first elected as a judge in 2016, and was re-elected to a second six-year term in 2022.

Judicial elections in Wisconsin are non-partisan, however Dugan was endorsed by Milwaukee's Democratic mayor.

The obstruction charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, while the concealment charges can be punished by up to one year in prison and a $100,000 fine.