FBI Director Announces Arrest of Judge for "Obstructing" Migrant Detention

WashingtonFBI Director Kash Patel has announced the arrest of Wisconsin Judge Hannah Dugan for "obstructing" the detention of an immigrant last week. Patel, who has removed the post Just minutes after posting, he stated, "We believe Judge Dugan intentionally misdirected federal agents" who arrived at the courthouse where the suspect was scheduled to meet with the judge.

"Fortunately, our agents pursued the assailant on foot and he has since been apprehended," Patel wrote. The individual is Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, according to the FBI director. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel explains that he is a Mexican man facing three misdemeanor assault charges. Attorney General Pam Bondi later confirmed to X that Dugan had been arrested "for assisting an illegal alien in avoiding ICE detention" and added that "no one is above the law."

The indictment filed against Dugan describes a confrontation between the judge and federal agents when they appeared in court to arrest Flores-Ruiz. According to the New York Times, federal agents allege in the document that the judge was "visibly upset and had a defiant and angry attitude" toward the FBI and DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) officers who stormed the courtroom.

According to the criminal complaint, the judge confronted the officers and told them to go speak with the court's chief judge. She then returned to her courtroom. "Despite being informed of the administrative order for Flores-Ruiz's detention, Judge Dugan escorted him and his attorney from the courtroom, which leads to a non-public area of the courthouse," the complaint says.

Dugan's arrest comes after several judges have been critical of arrests by immigration enforcement agents (ICE). In fact, the practice coincides with other ICE modus operandi, such as the arrest of Palestinian activist Mohsen Mahdawi, who was intercepted at an immigration office where he had an appointment to supposedly obtain a US passport.

The announcement of the arrest represents an escalation in the war against judges initiated by Donald Trump, who has repeatedly criticized and called for impeachments against those judges he considers unruly for blocking his executive orders. It is also part of the pressure campaign against local authorities and some immigration judges to cooperate with his plans for mass deportations, under threat of investigation or prosecution if they do not.

At the same time, the US government has cut subsidies for organizations that work to provide legal services to migrants facing deportation proceedings. In the United States, according to the American Immigration Council,Deportation is classified as a civil, not a criminal, sanction, which means the state is not required to provide a court-appointed attorney. The result is that people caught in the immigration circuit, if they don't have the money to pay for an attorney or don't have access to those offered by NGOs, must defend themselves before the judges who want to deport them.

In February, the Trump administration already left unaccompanied migrant minors without lawyers, forcing thousands of children to defend themselves before a judge. Recently, the Tucson, Arizona-based NGO Florence Project also denounced in a statement in early April that the administration had canceled the legal orientation program, which aimed to offer legal support to migrants so they know their right to go to court.