Former Wisconsin Judge Hannah Dugan faced sentencing Wednesday for obstruction after she ushered a Mexican defendant out of her courtroom to evade U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
Dugan, 67, faces up to five years in prison. Her lawyers argued during her trial that President Donald Trump’s administration sought to “crush” Dugan in an effort to ensure judicial compliance with the ICE strategy of targeting immigrants as they showed up for court
hearings.
Dugan resigned the Milwaukee County circuit judgeship she had held for nine years in January amid threats of impeachment from Republican state lawmakers who labeled her an activist judge. Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, a fierce Trump loyalist running for Wisconsin governor, urged authorities to “lock her up” in a social media post following her conviction in December.
Dugan’s attorneys declined to comment ahead of the sentencing. Dugan did not testify during her trial, but her attorneys said she would speak in court on Wednesday. That would be her first public comments on the case in more than a year. In her resignation letter, she said the federal case threatened “the independence of our judiciary.”
Dugan's attorneys argued that as a judge she was immune from prosecution. U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman, who will hand down the sentence, rejected their attempts to vacate her conviction. While jurors found her guilty of felony obstruction, they acquitted her of concealing an individual to prevent arrest, a misdemeanor.
Prosecutors argued in a sentencing memo filed last week that Dugan violated her oath as a judge and put both law enforcement and the public at risk.
“Judges are entrusted with tremendous discretion, but there is a line they cannot cross,” Executive Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Frohling wrote. “The defendant crossed that line.”
Dugan’s attorneys argued she has been “punished enough,” including resigning as a judge and facing threats of violence. They argued in her sentencing memo that she should not be sentenced to any jail time besides the part of one day she already spent in federal custody.
Under federal sentencing guidelines, the presentence report calls for 15 to 21 months behind bars. The judge is not bound by those guidelines.
Prosecutors said the average sentence for obstruction cases is 16 months, but they did not recommend a sentence.
“This was a serious offense, and it warrants a correspondingly serious sentence,” Frohling wrote.
No matter what she is sentenced to, Dugan's attorneys said they plan to file an appeal.
Dugan's case marked the first time that a state judge in Wisconsin went to trial on charges of obstructing immigration agents.
On April 18, 2025, immigration officers went to the Milwaukee County courthouse after learning Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, 31, had reentered the country illegally and was scheduled to appear before Dugan for a hearing in a state battery case.
Dugan confronted agents outside her courtroom and directed them to the chief judge's office, saying their administrative warrant wasn’t sufficient to arrest Flores-Ruiz.
After the agents left, she led Flores-Ruiz and his attorney out a private jury door. Agents spotted Flores-Ruiz in the corridor, followed him outside and arrested him after a foot chase. A week later, FBI agents arrested Dugan in the courthouse, leading her outside in handcuffs.
Flores-Ruiz was deported in November.
