A judge in Wisconsin was arrested and accused of obstructing an immigration -arresting operation last week, FBI director Kash Patel said Friday.
Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan appeared in the federal court on Friday morning and has since been released, the Associated Press reported. Her next court appears May 15. Brady McCarron, a spokesperson for the US Marsals Service in Washington, DC, told the press that Dugan is being accused of two federal crime counts: obstruction and hiding an individual.
“Judge Dugan regrets and heartily protests her arrest,” said Dugan's lawyer, Craig Mastantuono, during the hearing. per ap. “It was not made in the interest of public safety.”
In a post on X, Patel said that Dugan, 65, was arrested for 'deliberately misleading' federal agents who came to her courthouse to hold an immigrant who would appear in a non -related court case for her. Patel posted the same message earlier on Friday, but had deleted it before it was posted again.
“We believe that judge Dugan deliberately has aimed federal agents of the subject to be arrested in her courthouse, Eduardo Flores Ruiz, allowing the subject – an illegal alien – to avoid the arrest,” wrote Patel. “Fortunately our agents have lowered the Perp on foot and since then he has been in custody.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi confirmed that the FBI Dugan arrested “because he was said to help prevent an illegal alien” through American immigration and customs enforcement. “Nobody is above the law,” said Bondi on X.
Earlier this week, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that the FBI Dugan was investigating because he tried to “help an immigrant without papers to prevent arrest.”
The publication reported that Chief Milwaukee County Circuit judge Carl Ashley had sent an e -mail to judges who warn them that agents with ICE on 18 April had come to the Milwaukee County courthouse with an arrest warrant, but Dugan did not specifically mention his e -mail.
The news exit confirmed that Dugan was arrested on Friday at 9 am and noted that Ashley had confirmed the Dugan arrest in an e -mail to officials of the courthouse.
What we know about Judge Hannah Dugan
Dugan is in her ninth year as a judge of the Circuit Court of Milwaukee County and her current judicial period ends in 2028. She is a former president of Milwaukee Bar Association.
According to the Sentinel magazine, her legal career focuses on civil law and civil leadership. In the first place, she supervises cases within the criminal's crimination.
Legal reports show that on April 18, Dugan had 25 crime cases, planned with the case of Flores-Ruiz before 9:30 am et.
What we know about Eduardo Flores-Ruiz
Flores-Ruiz, 30, is a Mexican immigrant who was confronted with three crime batteries. He was in the courtroom of Dugan for a pre-trial conference on April 18, represented by a public defender, reported the Sentinel magazine.
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