What We Know About Wisconsin Judge Hannah Dugan’s Arrest

The Milwaukee judge accused of helping an undocumented immigrant avoid federal agents was indicted Tuesday on federal charges of concealing a person from arrest and obstruction of proceedings.

The indictment came after the judge, Hannah C. Dugan, was arrested on April 25. A week before, according to the criminal complaint against her, Judge Dugan had directed a Mexican man facing battery charges out of her courtroom through a side door while federal immigration agents waited in a hallway to arrest him.

The indictment was a routine but significant step in the case against Judge Dugan.

Her arrest drew condemnation from Democratic leaders, lawyers and former judges, while the Trump administration has presented the prosecution as a warning that no one is above the law.

The U.S. attorney general, Pam Bondi, defended the move, saying Judge Dugan’s arrest sent a “strong message” to judges that the Trump administration will prosecute them if they obstruct justice by “escorting a criminal defendant out a back door.”

On April 29, the Wisconsin Supreme Court suspended Judge Dugan from her position as a circuit judge while the case against her moves forward. In a two-page order, the court wrote that the suspension was necessary “in order to uphold the public’s confidence in the courts of this state.”