Dugan resigns amid ICE obstruction case

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In the face of an effort to impeach her and remove her from the bench, Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan announced she is resigning.

The announcement came on Jan. 3, weeks after a federal jury found Dugan guilty of obstructing federal immigration agents seeking to make an arrest outside her courtroom. Dugan was found not guilty of concealing a wanted person, which is a misdemeanor.

Dugan’s defense team released a letter to Gov. Tony Evers, also dated Jan. 3, in which she cited the prosecution, her pending appeal, as well as a vow by Republicans to impeach her and remove Dugan from the bench.

“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. 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.”

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, a Rochester Republican, welcomed the announcement by Dugan.

“I’m glad Dugan did the right thing by resigning and followed the clear direction from the WI Constitution,” Vos wrote to a reporter seeking comment.

The first-of-its-kind trial has thrust Dugan to the forefront of a clash between state judges and the Trump administration as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement steps up enforcement.

Dugan, 66, a nine-year veteran of the bench, said in her letter to Evers that her resignation was effective immediately. She called her time on the bench “the honor of my life and a daily blessing to been trusted by Wisconsinites as their elected judge.”

A spokesperson for Democratic Gov. Tony Evers confirmed the office had received Dugan’s resignation letter.

“As with any appointment, the governor will work to fill the vacancy without delay,” Britt Cudaback said.

U.S. Judge Lynn Adelman has not set a sentencing date for Dugan. He usually sets a sentencing date when a guilty verdict is returned but did not in this case.

Dugan’s team is appealing the verdict, asking Adelman to set it aside. They also are asking for a new trial. The Dugan team has until Jan. 30 to file its appeal. Adelman’s decision is expected in March.

While Dugan has been found guilty of a felony, a judgment of felony conviction has not been entered. That will happen at a sentencing date. That is when Dugan will become a convicted felon.

The obstruction count brings a maximum of five years behind bars but under federal sentencing guidelines Dugan, a first-time offender found guilty in a non-violent offense, is unlikely to get prison time.

Dugan had been suspended from the bench during the case, continuing to receive her roughly $175,000 annual salary. A fundraiser was started to pay for Dugan’s defense team.

On April 18, six federal agents arrived in the corridor outside Dugan’s courtroom with a warrant to arrest Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, who had illegally re-entered the U.S. in 2013 after being deported. Flores-Ruiz, 31, was in Dugan’s court on misdemeanor battery charges.

At trial, prosecutors portrayed Dugan as a judge who was opposed to Trump’s increased immigration enforcement and took the law into her own hands and tried to thwart federal agents.

Dugan and another judge questioned ICE agents who were in the hallway outside her courtroom and then Dugan directed them to the office of the chief judge who was creating a policy for such arrests.

Dugan returned to her courtroom, quickly called Flores-Ruiz’s case, and directed him and his attorney out a door and hallway used by her staff and jurors, saying she would get “the heat.”

Flores-Ruiz and his attorney emerged in the public corridor, where two agents were waiting. They followed them and arrested Flores-Ruiz outside the courthouse.

Dugan’s attorneys painted her as a diligent public servant who was struggling to follow murky guidance from the chief judge on how to handle immigration arrests.

Dugan was first elected in 2016 and won reelection in 2022. She was up for re-election in 2028.

While Dugan has been suspended, reserve judges have been filling in for her.

She wrote that she submitted her resignation letter “with a heavy heart.”

“My faith in God and in our legal system leads me to trust that in the long run justice will be served for our independent judiciary and for me,” she wrote.