A former Milwaukee County judge is attempting to have her conviction overturned, but federal prosecutors are fighting back. Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan was convicted of felony obstruction by a jury last year.
She led an illegal immigrant through a side door of her courtroom on April 18 after immigration officers arrived to take him into custody, which led to that conviction. Dugan is now requesting a new trial or the reversal of that conviction from U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman.
Federal prosecutors responded to those attempts in a filing on Thursday, stating that Dugan’s lawyers are depending “on arguments that she has waived or which the Court already has rejected.”
Dugan was found guilty of obstructing federal immigration officers when they attempted to apprehend a man inside the Milwaukee County Courthouse.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court also issued an administrative order earlier this year directing Milwaukee Circuit Court Judge Dugan to be “temporarily relieved of her official duties.”
The order reads that Dugan “is temporarily prohibited from exercising the powers of a circuit court judge in the State of Wisconsin.”
The state Supreme Court said that the ruling would be in force “until further order of the court.”
However, Dugan’s lawyers contended in a recent court filing that those agents were not legally permitted to make such an arrest inside the courtroom.
Immigration officers showed up at the building on April 18 with a warrant to detain Eduardo Flores-Ruiz for entering the country illegally. An official from Immigration and Customs Enforcement signed what is known as an administrative warrant, which the agents possessed. Dugan’s lawyers claimed that kind of warrant was insufficient under the law.
According to her lawyers, court rulings have established a “common-law privilege” that protects individuals from immigration arrests in court.
Federal prosecutors contended that this is “false.”
“Arrests at the courthouse are a common practice and can be made in a public hallway with or even without a warrant based on probable cause,” attorneys for the federal government wrote.
Federal agents testified during Dugan’s trial that they informed county officials that after Flores-Ruiz’s hearing in Dugan’s courtroom ended, they intended to arrest him in the courthouse hallway. That day, Flores-Ruiz was supposed to appear in Milwaukee County on charges of misdemeanor domestic abuse.
Courtroom immigration enforcement has generated controversy. The administration of President Donald Trump has claimed that because people must pass through metal detectors before entering a courthouse, such apprehensions are a safer option.
However, detractors claim that ICE’s presence deters people from appearing in court and makes immigrants reluctant to come forward as witnesses or victims of crimes.
The Milwaukee County courthouse had made a number of other immigration arrests earlier that year prior to the Dugan incident on April 18.
This prompted the chief judge of Milwaukee County to start developing a policy regarding how court employees should react to ICE’s presence. Chief Judge Carl Ashley testified during Dugan’s trial that, to the best of his knowledge, ICE could make immigration arrests in courtroom hallways, but that policy was still in draft form on April 18.
Prosecutors stated in their most recent filing that Dugan neglected to bring up the issue of the legitimacy of immigration arrests at courthouses prior to her trial and that it is now too late.
Furthermore, Dugan’s lawyers contend that the prosecution has not proven she acted corruptly, which is a prerequisite for the charge for which she was found guilty. Rather, they contend that everything Dugan did on April 18 was lawful and within a judge’s jurisdiction, including calling off Flores-Ruiz’s hearing and proposing to reschedule it via Zoom.
However, federal prosecutors have argued that Dugan was not permitted to act in this way with the unlawful intention of obstructing law enforcement.