Wisconsin judge set to present case as trial winds down in immigration-arrest obstruction case

MILWAUKEE — A Wisconsin judge accused of helping a Mexican immigrant evade federal authorities is set to present her case as the trial on obstruction and concealment charges winds down.

Prosecutors rested their case against Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan on Wednesday after three days of testimony. Dugan's defense attorneys said they planned to call four witnesses starting Thursday morning. It wasn’t clear whether Dugan would take the stand. Closing arguments could begin as early as Thursday afternoon.

The charges stem from an encounter at the Milwaukee County Courthouse during an immigration-arrest operation. Prosecutors say Dugan interfered with members of a federal immigration task force trying to arrest 31-year-old Eduardo Flores-Ruiz after authorities learned he was in the country illegally when he appeared for a state battery hearing. Six agents and officers waited in the courthouse hallway for the moment Flores-Ruiz would emerge from the hearing. Dugan and another judge, Kristela Cervera, stepped into the hallway wearing their robes. Dugan directed four members of the team to report to the chief judge's office. The judge then led Flores-Ruiz out a private door into the hallway, prompting a foot chase through traffic before he was finally arrested. Transcripts of audio recordings played in court showed Dugan telling her court reporter that she'd take the heat for ushering him out the private door. Two agents who were missed during the initial confrontation followed Flores-Ruiz outside, and the chase continued before the arrest.

Cervera testified she was uncomfortable backing up Dugan and was shocked when she heard the judge had led Flores-Ruiz out through a private door, saying judges shouldn't help defendants evade arrest. She also recounted that Dugan told her three days after the incident that she was “in the doghouse” with the chief judge, Carl Ashley, because she “tried to help that guy.”

Dugan's attorneys have countered during cross-examinations that Dugan didn't intend to obstruct the arrest team and was trying to follow a draft courthouse policy from Ashley that called for court employees to refer immigration agents looking to make an arrest in the courthouse to supervisors. They’ve also argued that the arrest team could have apprehended Flores-Ruiz at any point after he emerged from the courtroom and Dugan shouldn't be blamed for their decision to wait until he got outside.

The highly unusual charges against a sitting judge are an extraordinary consequence of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. Dugan’s supporters say Trump is looking to make an example of her to blunt judicial opposition to immigration arrests, while prosecutors insist the case underscores the need to enforce procedures aimed at protecting public safety and ensuring arrests are conducted without interference.

Observers note the case has highlighted tensions over how courts operate in the era of aggressive immigration enforcement and how judges balance security concerns with procedural independence. The trial's timing comes as federal authorities have intensified efforts to track and detain immigrants who are in the country illegally, even when they appear in local courthouses for other matters.

As closing arguments loom, the proceedings will continue to test how far a sitting judge can go in addressing an ongoing federal enforcement operation inside a courtroom and how prosecutors must prove obstruction and concealment when a defendant’s presence at an arrest scene intersects with judicial duties. The outcome could have implications for similar cases where security operations collide with courtroom procedures, and it will be watched not only in Wisconsin but by observers of federal-state interactions in immigration policy.