Judge Who Helped Illegal Evade ICE Gets No Prison Time

News admin July 8, 2026 0 Comments

Judge Who Helped Illegal Evade ICE Gets No Prison Time

She helped an illegal immigrant sneak out of a courthouse where Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were waiting to carry out an arrest. Despite being convicted, the former Wisconsin judge was just spared from serving time in prison.

At a sentencing hearing Wednesday, former Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan received no prison time and was instead ordered to pay a $5,000 fine, according to Reuters.

U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman noted Dugan’s long history of public service in deciding to spare Dugan from prison, the outlet reported.

“The punishment should fit the offender, and not merely the crime,” Adelman ⁠said, adding that Dugan “made a bad decision in the moment.”

The lenient punishment stems from an incident where ICE agents showed up to Dugan’s courthouse in April 2025 to arrest a previously deported illegal immigrant with a rap sheet.

Dugan directed the officers to the chief judge’s chambers before returning to her courtroom and instructing Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, who was charged in Milwaukee with three counts of battery, domestic abuse, and infliction of physical pain or injury, to exit through the “jury door” into a nonpublic area of the courthouse.

The ICE team later located Flores-Ruiz outside the building and arrested him following a foot chase.

When Dugan learned of the agents’ presence, she grew “visibly angry,” calling the situation “absurd,” according to investigators.

A jury found Dugan guilty of felony obstruction in December, but cleared her of a lesser charge of concealing a person from arrest.

Federal guidelines recommended between 15 and 21 months in prison in Dugan’s case, prosecutors argued.

“Rather than uphold the rule of law, the defendant used the power and prestige of judicial office to obstruct federal agents carrying out their lawful duties in order to help an individual evade arrest,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing ⁠memorandum, adding that she should receive a sentence that reflects the “serious nature of her conduct and its broader impact on the justice system.”