Wisconsin Judge Indicted for Helping Illegal Migrant Evade ICE
Wisconsin Judge Indicted for Helping Illegal Migrant Evade ICE
The Wisconsin judge who allegedly helped an illegal migrant evade immigration authorities was indicted by a federal jury Tuesday.
Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan was led away in handcuffs while still in her black judicial robe last month after being accused of obstruction of justice and concealing Mexican national Eduardo Flores-Ruiz from federal law enforcement at the end of a pre-trial hearing.
The high-profile arrest led to outcry from Democrats as the Department of Justice defended its action against the veteran jurist.
The indictment on Tuesday came at the end of a daylong hearing, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported.
She was initially charged with concealing an individual to prevent arrest and obstruction, and the grand jury determined there was enough probable cause to continue the case.
She was temporarily relieved of her duties in the aftermath of the arrest late last month.
Her defense team only had a terse statement following the most recent development, stressing Dugan maintains her innocence and looks forward to being vindicated in court.
She’s expected to enter a plea Thursday.
Flores-Ruiz, 30, was initially in court in front of Dugan on April 18 for three misdemeanor charges from a fight in March before the judge allegedly tried to help him get away from authorities.
She escorted Flores-Ruiz and his lawyer out the back jury door in her courtroom after she became aware that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were in the courthouse looking for him, prosecutors alleged.
At one point, Dugan, along with another judge, approached agents in the courthouse and was “confrontational” during a back-and-forth, according to an affidavit.
She instructed them to speak to the chief justice, and when she returned to her courtroom, she led Flores-Ruiz through an exit mostly used by staff, jurors and defendants already in custody, the documents state.
Flores-Ruiz, who was free on a signature bond at the time, was ultimately apprehended outside the courthouse in a foot chase.
His legal trouble that landed him in Dugan’s court began in mid-March after he allegedly punched and choked another man during an argument — and also hit a woman who tried to break it up, according to a police report.
The migrant illegally entered the US after he was deported in 2013, court docs state.
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