FBI Director Kash Patel announced that agents had arrested Milwaukee Judge Hannah Dugan for allegedly obstructing an immigration arrest last week.
Patel wrote on X:
We believe Judge Dugan intentionally misdirected federal agents away from the subject to be arrested in her courthouse, Eduardo Flores Ruiz, allowing the subject — an illegal alien — to evade arrest.Thankfully our agents chased down the perp on foot and he’s been in custody since, but the Judge’s obstruction created increased danger to the public.
I wish people would stop treating the judiciary as untouchable.
Hold all three branches of government accountable. From the charging complaint:
The courtroom deputy also made a comment about Judge DUGAN “pushing” Flores-Ruiz’s case through, which the arrest team interpreted to mean that Judge DUGAN was attempting to expedite Flores-Ruiz’s hearing.Multiple witnesses have described their observations after Judge DUGAN returned to her courtroom after directing members of the arrest team to the Chief Judge’s office. For example, the courtroom deputy recalled that upon the courtroom deputy’s return to the courtroom, defense counsel for Flores-Ruiz was talking to the clerk, and Flores-Ruiz was seated in the jury box, rather than in the gallery. The courtroom deputy believed that counsel and the clerk were having an off-the-record conversation to pick the next court date. Defense counsel and Flores-Ruiz then walked toward each other and toward the public courtroom exit. The courtroom deputy then saw Judge DUGAN get up and heard Judge DUGAN say something like “Wait, come with me.” Despite having been advised of the administrative warrant for the arrest of Flores-Ruiz, Judge DUGAN then escorted Flores-Ruiz and his counsel out of the courtroom through the “jury door,” which leads to a nonpublic area of the courthouse.
WHOA. If this is true…that’s not good:
These events were also unusual for two reasons. First, the courtroom deputy had previously heard Judge DUGAN direct people not to sit in the jury box because it was exclusively forthe jury’s use. Second, according to the courtroom deputy, only deputies, juries, court staff, and in-custody defendants being escorted by deputies used the back jury door. Defense attorneys and defendants who were not in custody never used the jury door.
A person identified as Attorney B corroborated the courtroom deputy’s story:
Attorney B similarly explained that after returning to the courtroom, Judge DUGAN forcefully motioned for Flores-Ruiz’s attorney and a male she did not know (Attorney B had never met Flores-Ruiz) to approach. Flores-Ruiz’s attorney appeared to be confused by the judge’s gesture but complied with her directive. Judge DUGAN commanded Flores-Ruiz’s attorney and the male to leave through a backdoor of the courtroom. Attorney B then saw Judge DUGAN escort Flores-Ruiz’s attorney and the male through a non-public door near the courtroom’s jury box. Shortly thereafter, Judge DUGAN came back to the courtroom and conducted hearings on that morning’s docket. Later that morning, Attorney B realized that Flores Ruiz’s case had never been called and asked the court about it. Attorney B learned that Flores Ruiz’s case had been adjourned. This happened without Attorney B’s knowledge or participation, even though Attorney B was present in court to handle Flores-Ruiz’s case on behalf of the state, and even though victims were present in the courtroom.
A Victim Witness Specialist (VWS) also told agents that Dugan exited through the jury door with Flores-Ruiz and the Hispanic woman.
The action worried the VW since “Flores-Ruiz’s case had not yet been called, and the victims were waiting.”
Attorney C also watched Dugan “direct two individuals, a man and a woman, to leave through the jury door.” He described Dugan using “a ‘stern’ tone.”
DEA Agent B saw Flores-Ruiz and his attorney in the hallway. This agent and DEA Agent A witnessed the two “walk briskly towards the elevator bank on the south end of the sixth floor.”
The FBI agent said “the south elevators are not the closest elevators to Courtroom 615, and therefore it appears that Flores-Ruiz and his counsel elected not to use the closest elevator bank to Courtroom 615.”
It’s almost as if someone told them not to use the elevator closest to the courtroom. WEIRD.
From USA Today:
Dugan, 65, is scheduled to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge Stephen Dries at 10:30 a.m. April 25 on the second floor of the Federal Courthouse in downtown Milwaukee, according to two federal sources.Brady McCarron, spokesman for U.S. Marshals Service in Washington, D.C., confirmed Dugan was arrested at about 8 a.m. at the Milwaukee County Courthouse and is in federal custody.—Multiple Milwaukee County judges confirmed that the arrest took place at the courthouse. Chief Judge Carl Ashley confirmed the incident in an email to courthouse officials.
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