Former Wisconsin Judge Spared Prison Time For Obstructing Arrest of Illegal Immigrant

Hannah Dugan was fined $5,000 after being convicted of helping an illegal immigrant evade federal immigration officers.

Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan, charged with obstructing the arrest of an illegal immigrant, leaves after appearing in court in Milwaukee, Wis., on May 15, 2025. Jim Vondruska/Reuters

A former Milwaukee County judge was spared prison time on July 8 after attempting to help an illegal immigrant evade deportation. She had been facing a possible 15- to 21-month sentence.

U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman instead fined Hannah Dugan $5,000, citing her previous life of public service.

“This is a few minutes of conduct for someone who has dedicated her life to public service,” the judge said. “It’s a marked deviation from an otherwise law-abiding life.”

“I have been cast as both a scofflaw and a hero,“ Dugan told the court ahead of the sentencing. ”I am neither. I am a public servant who’s just trying to do my job.”

Dugan was convicted last December of escorting 31-year-old Eduardo Flores-Ruiz out of a back door of her courtroom so he would not be apprehended by immigration agents waiting to detain him.

Flores-Ruiz was set to appear before Dugan on battery charges, but when a deputy learned that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were present to arrest him, he asked them to wait outside the courtroom.

When Dugan found out about the ICE agents, she and another judge confronted the immigration officials, telling them they needed a judicial warrant to arrest Flores-Ruiz.

She sent the group of officers to the chief judge of the courthouse.

While they were being escorted to the chief judge’s chambers, Dugan went back to her courtroom and led Flores-Ruiz and his attorney out through a backroom jury door.

The man was apprehended, and Dugan was indicted in May 2025 on a felony obstruction charge and a misdemeanor of concealing a criminal from arrest.

She defended herself by saying she was entitled to immunity for actions taken within her own courtroom. But Adelman refused to dismiss the case on those grounds.

“There is no basis for granting immunity simply because some of the allegations in the indictment describe conduct that could be considered ‘part of the judge’s job,’” he wrote in his opinion.

In December, she was convicted of the obstruction charge. The next month, she resigned, as Wisconsin state legislators were preparing to impeach her.

In April, Adelman also rejected a last-ditch effort by Dugan that asked him to overturn her conviction and enter a not-guilty verdict from the bench.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.