Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan files motion to dismiss federal charges in immigration case

The Milwaukee judge indicted for allegedly helping a man evade immigration agents has filed a motion to dismiss her case.

Attorneys for the judge argue Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan has judicial immunity for official acts, and they say her arrest and prosecution violate Wisconsin’s sovereignty.

Dugan’s motion to dismiss was filed Wednesday, less than 24 hours after a federal grand jury found probable cause to bring federal criminal charges against her.

Dugan’s lawyer’s called her arrest and indictment “virtually unprecedented and entirely unconstitutional,” arguing the federal prosecution violates the Tenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

“The problems with this prosecution are legion, but most immediately, the government cannot prosecute Judge Dugan because she is entitled to judicial immunity for her official acts,” the motion states. “Immunity is not a defense to the prosecution to be determined later by a jury or court; it is an absolute bar to the prosecution at the outset.”

Dugan’s clash with the federal government began on April 18, when agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration went to the courthouse to serve an administrative arrest warrant on Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, who was in Dugan’s courtroom facing state-level misdemeanor charges of battery related to domestic violence. 

A federal criminal complaint filed the following week alleges Dugan directed Flores-Ruiz to leave her courtroom through a back door intended for jurors. Flores-Ruiz was subsequently chased by the agents and arrested outside the courthouse. Dugan was arrested at the courthouse by FBI agents on April 25. 

During an interview with Fox News later that day, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi referenced Dugan’s arrest and said, “No one is above the law.”

“Escorting a criminal defendant out a back door will not be tolerated, and it is a crime in the United States of America,” Bondi said.

“Doesn’t matter who you are, you’re going to be prosecuted,” she added.

Dugan’s motion argues that even if Dugan took the alleged actions, “these plainly were judicial acts for which she has absolute immunity from criminal prosecution.”

“Judges are empowered to maintain control over their courtrooms specifically and the courthouse generally,” the motion says. 

Moreover, Dugan’s attorneys argue that the U.S. Constitution vests “the general police power” to states, not the federal government. They said the federal government’s prosecution “reaches directly into a state courthouse,” disrupts active proceedings and “interferes with the official duties of an elected judge.”

“The federal government violated Wisconsin’s sovereignty on April 18 when it disrupted Judge Dugan’s courtroom, and it is violating Wisconsin’s sovereignty now with this prosecution,” Dugan’s lawyers argue. “The Court should end the violation of Wisconsin’s sovereignty and dismiss the indictment.”

University of Wisconsin Law School professor John Gross told WPR that Dugan’s attorneys are telling the court her immunity strictly bars her prosecution, regardless of the merits of the case against her. He said the attorneys even cited the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2024 decision establishing broad immunity for President Donald Trump exercising core presidential duties.

Gross said Dugan’s motion also appears to be attacking the idea espoused by Trump that the federal government can compel states to conform to directives related to immigration enforcement.

“This is a counter argument saying, actually, you’re free to enforce immigration in any way that is legal, that is your prerogative because you are the federal government. You are charged with that,” Gross said. “But states have their own sovereignty, and so we can run our state courts and our state criminal courts in any way that we choose, and you cannot use those decisions as a way to enforce federal law.”

On May 5, The New York Times reported that more than 150 former state and federal judges signed a letter to Bondi condemning Dugan’s arrest, calling it an attempt to intimidate the judiciary that will fail.

“This cynical effort undermines the rule of law and destroys the trust the American people have in the nation’s judges to administer justice in the courtrooms and in the halls of justice across the land,” the letter said.

Dugan is expected to appear in court for a preliminary hearing Thursday.