Convicted Judge Who Helped Illegal Immigrant Escape ICE Gets No Jail Time

Former Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan, 67, was sentenced Wednesday to no prison time for felony obstruction of federal immigration agents, receiving only a $5,000 fine despite facing up to five years behind bars.

U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman imposed the sentence, dismissing calls from federal prosecutors who had requested 15 to 21 months of incarceration. Adelman described Dugan as “an otherwise good person” who “made a bad decision in the moment,” Fox News reports.

Dugan was convicted of felony obstruction last year following an April 18, 2025 incident at the Milwaukee County courthouse. ICE agents arrived to execute a warrant on Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, 31, a Mexican national who had re-entered the United States illegally and was scheduled to appear before Dugan in a state battery case.

According to federal prosecutors, Dugan confronted the agents in the courthouse hallway, challenged the validity of their administrative warrant, and directed them to the chief judge’s office. She then instructed Flores-Ruiz and his defense attorney to exit her courtroom through a back door. ICE agents spotted Flores-Ruiz shortly after and arrested him following a brief foot chase outside the building.

Dugan was acquitted on a separate misdemeanor charge of concealing an individual to prevent arrest.

She was arrested by the FBI three weeks after the incident and led out of the courthouse in handcuffs. She resigned from her judgeship in January amid Republican state lawmakers’ threats of impeachment. Flores-Ruiz has since been deported to Mexico.

Speaking before sentencing, Dugan defended her conduct and signaled she plans to re-enter public life. “My acts that day were consistent with community concerns at the courthouse,” she said. “I have been cast as a scofflaw and as a hero. I am neither. I am a public servant who was just trying to do my job. It is my intent to return to public service.”

Her defense attorney, Steve Biskupic, argued there was no precedent to deter. “What judges around the country are looking at this case and saying, ‘Yes, sign me up?’ There won’t be a crime wave of judges defying ICE,” Biskupic said.

Character witnesses testified on Dugan’s behalf before sentencing. Rev. Gregory J. O’Meara, a Jesuit priest and law professor at the University of Wisconsin, told the court he saw no need for “further punishment, deterrence, retribution or reform.” Marquette University law professor Janine Geske said Dugan had already been punished through media attention and the loss of her position.

Prosecutors had argued Dugan violated her judicial oath and endangered law enforcement officers and the public. Republican lawmakers have consistently described her as an activist judge who placed her political views above her legal obligations.

Dugan’s lawyers had sought dismissal of all charges, arguing judicial immunity shielded her from prosecution. Judge Adelman rejected that argument at trial.