Wisconsin judge resigns after being convicted of obstructing immigrant arrest

The Wisconsin judge convicted of obstruction for helping an immigrant evade federal officers has resigned.

Hannah Dugan was convicted on 19 December and had faced calls to resign from state Republicans, who threatened to impeach her if she did not.

Dugan, who served nine years as a Milwaukee county circuit court judge, received national attention when immigration authorities tried to arrest Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, who is undocumented, attending a hearing in her courtroom. The judge confronted FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents waiting outside the room to arrest Flores-Ruiz and directed them to the chief judge’s office, according to an indictment.

While the agents were gone, Dugan told Flores-Ruiz’s attorney that his client could attend his next hearing via Zoom and led them through a private jury door. Agents spotted Flores-Ruiz and arrested him after a foot chase. He was later sentenced to time served for illegally re-entering the United States and deported.

“As you know, I am the subject of unprecedented federal legal proceedings, which are far from concluded but which present immense and complex challenges that threaten the independence of our judiciary,” Dugan wrote in a letter sent on Saturday to Governor Tony Evers, a Democrat. “I am pursuing this fight for myself and for our independent judiciary. However, the Wisconsin citizens that I cherish deserve to start the year with a judge on the bench in Milwaukee county branch 31 rather than have the fate of that court rest in a partisan fight in the state legislature.”

The Republican Wisconsin assembly speaker Robin Vos praised Dugan’s decision, the Associated Press reported.

“I’m glad Dugan did the right thing by resigning and followed the clear direction from the Wisconsin constitution,” Vos said.

Democrat Ann Jacobs, chair of the Wisconsin elections commission board, said she agreed with Dugan that Milwaukee should have a permanent judge while her defense team appeals her conviction.

“Despite her situation, she is ever the champion of justice, wanting to remove the judiciary from a political battle over her fate,” Jacobs wrote on X. “I’m sure this is terribly hard for her but she is true to her faith and her principles.”