Judge Faces Trial for Helping Illegal Migrant Escape ICE

The federal trial for a Wisconsin judge who is accused of helping an illegal alien escape the custody of immigration officials has begun in Milwaukee.

Milwaukee Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan was indicted by a grand jury in May for helping an illegal alien escape from U.S. Customs and Enforcement (ICE) officials in April.

Dugan is accused of discovering that ICE agents were searching for illegal alien Eduardo Flores-Ruiz inside a Milwaukee courthouse. She then reportedly helped him escape ICE by spiriting him out through the judge’s private hallway where he re-entered the public elevators while ICE officials were searching for him in the courtroom. The FBI later arrested Judge Dugan and charged her with “obstruction’ for helping Flores-Ruiz escape custody.

As the trial began Assistant U.S. Attorney Keith Alexander criticized Judge Dugan’s actions and insisted that, “The judicial robe that the defendant wore in the public hallway that morning did not put her above the law,” the Wall Street Journal reported.

In his opening statement, the judge’s attorney claimed that Dugan was merely attempting to operate by guidelines the court’s chief judge issued on how to interact with ICE in the courthouse. She claims she was acting in accordance with those rules.

Dugan’s attorney, Steven Biskupi, said that his client and other judges had spent some time trying to hash out their duties in emails ahead of her incident with the migrant. “Little did she know that it was her head that was going to be at risk under these policies,” Biskupi said.

“Normally she’s up on the bench making judgments. This week she’s on trial because the federal government wanted her to act a certain way about ICE and she didn’t act that way,” Biskupi added.

Flores-Ruiz has since been deported back to his home country of Mexico.

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