Federal agents on Friday arrested a US judge for allegedly shielding an undocumented migrant, the FBI’s director said, escalating a growing struggle between the White House and courts over President Donald Trump’s hardline deportation policies.
Hannah Dugan, a Milwaukee County circuit judge, allegedly “intentionally misdirected federal agents away from the subject” whom they were intending to detain at her courthouse, director Kash Patel said in a post on X.
“The FBI arrested Judge Hannah Dugan out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin on charges of obstruction — after evidence of Judge Dugan obstructing an immigration arrest operation last week,” Patel said in his post.
The migrant was arrested shortly afterwards.
“Thankfully our agents chased down the perp on foot and he’s been in custody since, but the Judge’s obstruction created increased danger to the public,” Patel said.
The Trump-appointed FBI director deleted his post minutes after it appeared, but eventually reposted it.
US Attorney General Pam Bondi also confirmed the arrest of Dugan — which authorities said occurred Friday morning in the courthouse — “for allegedly helping an illegal alien avoid an arrest” by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
“No one is above the law,” Bondi posted on X.
Appearance in court
The legal documents on the 65-year-old’s charges had yet to be released by mid-day Friday.
Dugan, who was elected to the bench in 2016, appeared in court Friday before a US magistrate judge in the federal courthouse in downtown Milwaukee, where she made no public comments, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
According to the paper, her attorney Craig Mastantuono told the court: “Judge Dugan wholeheartedly regrets and protests her arrest. It was not made in the interest of public safety.”
A number of federal and state judges across the United States have issued rulings that put several of Trump’s executive actions on hold, particularly related to his bid to exercise unprecedented powers in deporting migrants.
The Trump administration has been butting heads with federal judges, rights groups and Democrats who say he has trampled or ignored constitutionally enshrined rights in rushing to deport migrants, sometimes without the right to a hearing.
House Democrat Darren Soto blasted the Dugan arrest as “third world country dictator type of stuff.”
“Everyday they get more desperate,” he posted on X. “This will be bounced out of court as quick as the rest of their illegal actions.”
Several Republicans however rushed to Patel’s defense.
“The corruption and determination of these anti-American activist judges to put illegal aliens ahead of American citizens is appalling,” congresswoman Diana Harshbarger said. “Thankfully, a stand is being taken against them.”
On Thursday, a former county magistrate judge in New Mexico and his wife were taken into custody after federal agents raided their Las Cruces home over their harboring of an alleged undocumented migrant who is believed to be a member of Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang, US media reported.
