Hannah Dugan, the former Wisconsin judge convicted of trying to thwart ICE’s attempt to arrest an illegal immigrant in her courtroom, begged for mercy this week, saying she shouldn’t serve any jail time because she has suffered enough.
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Dugan’s lawyer said losing her judge’s robes; being handcuffed, photographed and “intentionally shamed” by the FBI; facing threats; and retreating to “life as a recluse” are punishment enough.
But Dugan, 67, continued to make the case that she did nothing wrong and was taking a stand for fellow judges when she hindered U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s attempt to arrest an illegal immigrant.
“Judge Dugan’s attempt to exercise her state law authority was not malicious or self-serving. Her effort to protect the state judiciary’s authority and independence was not an attempt at personal or private gain,” Steven Biskupic, her lawyer, wrote to a federal judge who will sentence Dugan next week.
Dugan became a face of resistance to President Trump and ICE in April 2025, when she had a court proceeding with an illegal immigrant in her courtroom. She helped usher the man out a side entrance to avoid ICE officers she learned were there to arrest him.
Federal authorities said she wrongly quoted the law, telling the ICE agents they needed a judicial arrest warrant. That is not the case for civil immigration arrests, which are an administrative matter, not a criminal one.
A jury in December found her guilty of obstructing a government proceeding, though it acquitted her of attempting to conceal someone from arrest, a misdemeanor.
Department of Justice prosecutors said Dugan abandoned her oath of office by elevating her personal beliefs about ICE over the dictates of the law.
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“Public officials must understand that they cannot substitute personal viewpoints for legal duty,” the prosecutors wrote in their own memo to the judge.
They asked for the sentence to reflect “the serious nature of her conduct.”
“Judges are entrusted with tremendous discretion, but there is a line they cannot cross,” the prosecutors wrote. “They may disagree with the law, question policy, or sympathize with those who appear before them. But they cannot use the power of judicial office to obstruct federal law enforcement officers to help someone evade arrest. The defendant crossed that line.”
Dugan’s lawyer said she should get no extra jail time.
U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman, a Clinton appointee, will sentence Dugan. He has previously denied Dugan’s request that the jury verdict be tossed out.
Dugan’s legal team has indicated it would appeal.
A team led by ICE and joined by FBI and Customs and Border Protection personnel went to the Milwaukee County courthouse on April 18, 2025, to arrest Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, an illegal immigrant with a previous deportation who’d snuck back in. He was appearing before Dugan on a battery charge.
Prosecutors said Dugan distracted the ICE team by challenging their civil arrest warrant, then telling officers they had to go speak with the chief judge. She cut short the proceeding against Mr. Flores-Ruiz and allowed him to leave her courtroom by a non-public door.
Dugan had argued her actions were covered by her duties as a judge. She also said courthouses are special places where people need to be able to come and go without fearing entanglements in civil affairs.
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