Judge Threatens to Close Court After FBI Arrest of Milwaukee Judge

A Wisconsin judge is now threatening not to hold court after the FBI arrested Milwaukee-based Judge Hannah Dugan on Friday on obstruction charges.

Judge Monica Isham of Sawyer County made the stunning claim in an email sent to all state judges on Saturday, Wisconsin Right Now reported. Isham claimed she no longer “feels protected or respected as a Judge” after the arrest of Dugan and will “refuse” to hold court without new “guidance” or “support.”

“I no longer feel protected or respected as a Judge in this administration. If there is no guidance for us and no support for us, I will refuse to hold court in Branch 2 in Sawyer County. I will not put myself or my staff who may feel compelled to help me or my community in harms [sic] way,” she wrote.

Isham added that she has “no intention of allowing anyone to be taken out of my courtroom by ICE and sent to a concentration camp, especially without due process, as BOTH of the constitutions we swore to support requires,” even threatening to “start raising bail money” for defendants.

Isham’s email follows the arrest of Dugan after she allegedly misdirected Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in mid-April to help an illegal immigrant evade arrest.

According to a 13-page criminal complaint, Dugan directed officers away from Mexico native Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, who was in court for a hearing in a domestic violence case, sneaking him out a back door of the courtroom typically reserved for jurors and in-custody defendants.

That action led to Flores-Ruiz leaving the courthouse for about 22 minutes before he was captured by immigration officials.

Officials had an arrest warrant for Flores-Ruiz, who was already deported over a decade ago and at some point reentered the country illegally.

Isham defended Dugan’s alleged conduct in her email on Saturday.

“Yesterday, Judge Hannah Dugan of Milwaukee County stood on her Oath in the very building she swore to uphold it and she was arrested and charged with felonies for it. Enough is enough,” she wrote.