A Wisconsin judge has announced plans to protest the arrest of Judge Hannah Dugan by refusing to carry out her court duties.
Democrats expressed outrage after FBI Director Kash Patel revealed Friday that Dugan, a Milwaukee County Circuit judge, had been arrested for allegedly assisting an illegal immigrant in evading detention by immigration authorities.
Circuit Judge Monica Isham responded by announcing she would stop hearing cases to avoid putting herself or her staff at risk if asked to take similar actions as Judge Dugan.
The email, titled “Guidance Requested or I Refuse to Hold Court,” was obtained by Wisconsin Right Now, which also published screenshots of its full contents.
“I have been in this position for less than 2 years. I was elected as the first woman, first Native American, first minority all together [sic], to serve as a circuit judge in Sawyer County,” she wrote. “I have sworn an Oath to support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Wisconsin.”
It’s not clear why she believes being the first “woman” and “Native American” elected to her position is relevant, given that her job is to ensure that justice is served under the law, regardless of any other factors.
“Yesterday, Judge Hannah Dugan of Milwaukee County stood on her Oath in the very building she swore to uphold it and she was arrested and charged with felonies for it. Enough is enough,” she added.
“I have no intention of allowing anyone to be taken out of my courtroom by ICE and sent to a concentration camp, especially without due process as BOTH of the constitutions we swore to support requires. Should I start raising bail money?” Isham asked.
“I will not put myself or my staff who may feel compelled to help me or my community in harms [sic] way,” she concluded.
Dugan was arrested Friday and charged with obstruction of an official proceeding after evidence showed she had shielded the migrant from ICE agents, according to a criminal complaint. She also faces a charge of concealing an individual to prevent their discovery and arrest, Fox noted.
Federal agents from ICE, the FBI, CBP, and the DEA attempted to arrest Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, a Mexican national illegally in the U.S., following his April 18 court appearance before Dugan on three misdemeanor battery charges for allegedly assaulting two people.
Dugan ordered officers to go to the chief judge’s office and, after the hearing ended, escorted Flores-Ruiz and his attorney out through a restricted jury door—bypassing the public area where agents were waiting—to help him evade arrest, according to the complaint, Fox said.
In addition to Dugan, FBI agents last week arrested now former New Mexico Judge Joel Cano and his wife for allegedly harboring an illegal alien member of a terrorist-designated foreign gang and for providing him with firearms.
Attorney General Pam Bondi has since revealed in an interview with Fox News the insane lengths Cano went to help the illegal migrant avoid arrest.
“Judge Cano, soon to be former Judge Cano, got, his charges were just unsealed. He’s charged with obstruction. He admitted post-Miranda. He took one of the TDA member’s cell phones, himself, took it, beat it with a hammer, destroyed it, and then walked the pieces to a city dumpster to dispose of it to protect him,” she said.
“He had on his cell phone pictures of two decapitated victims… and he was sending them out and whoever he was sending them to was sending back, ‘Hey, you need to be careful. You shouldn’t be texting these photos out,’” the attorney general said.
Bondi added that Cano and his wife, Nancy, provided the gang member, Cristhian Ortega-Lopez, with assault rifles, which were allegedly owned by their daughter, April Cano.
“This is the last person that we want in our country… nor will we ever tolerate a judge or anyone else harboring them,” she said.