2 US judges arrested for aiding ‘illegal aliens’
WASHINGTON—US officials arrested a Wisconsin judge on Friday and charged her with helping an alleged illegal migrant evade immigration authorities in an escalating dispute between President Donald Trump’s administration and local officials over immigration.
In a criminal complaint, the US Justice Department said Hannah Dugan, a Milwaukee County circuit judge, tried to obstruct immigration agents from arresting Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, a Mexican who was earlier deported to Mexico but again reportedly reentered illegally into the United States.
Dugan appeared briefly at a federal court in Milwaukee to face charges of obstructing a government proceeding and concealing an individual to prevent arrest, records show.
She was released and is scheduled to enter a plea on May 15.
Trump, a Republican who again won the presidency on a promise to crack down on illegal immigration, and the Justice Department have directed federal prosecutors to pursue criminal cases against local officials who interfere with the effort.
Living on property
“No one, least of all a judge, should obstruct law enforcement operations,” attorney general Pam Bondi said in a statement.
FBI director Kash Patel said on social media that agents had arrested Dugan for interfering with the arrest of Flores-Ruiz, an “illegal alien.”
Federal authorities this week also arrested a former New Mexico judge and charged him with evidence tampering, court records show, after a man whom authorities allege was linked to a Venezuelan street gang was found living on his property.
The former judge, Joel Cano, was charged alongside his wife Nancy after they allegedly helped the man, who faces illegal gun possession charges, destroy a cell phone believed to contain evidence of him holding firearms, according to a criminal complaint.
In the Wisconsin case, plainclothes immigration agents arrived at Dugan’s court on April 18, seeking to arrest Flores-Ruiz after a hearing.
Florez-Ruiz was facing misdemeanor battery charges related to domestic abuse before Dugan’s court.
After the hearing however, the judge directed Flores-Ruiz and his attorney to leave through a door used by jurors, the complaint said.
Flores-Ruiz was arrested after a chase on foot.
DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said, “this judge’s actions to shield an accused violent criminal illegal alien from justice is shocking and shameful.”
