Milwaukee Judge Hannah Dugan resigns after felony conviction

A Milwaukee County judge is resigning after being convicted of helping a man avoid immigration enforcement.

Sixty-six-year-old Hannah Dugan on Saturday submitted her resignation letter to Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, writing that the action came with a “heavy heart.” Dugan asked for her resignation to take immediate effect.

“Behind the bench, I have presided over thousands and thousands of cases — with a commitment to treat all persons with dignity and respect, to act justly, deliberatively, and consistently, and to maintain a courtroom with the decorum and safety the public deserves,” Dugan wrote.

Dugan was arrested on April 25 after federal prosecutors filed two charges against her.

The charges stem from an April 18 incident, in which Dugan led a man through a side door of her courtroom and said his hearing would be rescheduled over Zoom.

That’s after federal agents had showed up at the Milwaukee County courthouse to arrest the man for being in the country illegally. The man had been scheduled for a hearing in Dugan’s courtroom on that day on misdemeanor domestic battery charges.

Following a four-day trial at the federal courthouse in Milwaukee, a jury found Dugan guilty of a felony count of impeding or obstructing a proceeding. The jury found her not guilty of a misdemeanor charge of concealing an individual to prevent his discovery or arrest.

The day after the verdict, Wisconsin’s top legislative Republicans announced they would take actions to impeach Dugan unless she resigned “immediately.”

They cited a section of Wisconsin’s Constitution which says someone with a felony conviction cannot hold “any office of trust, profit or honor in this state” unless that person is pardoned.

At the time, retired University of Wisconsin Law Professor Howard Schweber told WPR it’s clear that Dugan could not continue serving as a judge after a felony conviction. But he said it was not clear that she needed to resign immediately because the case against her is still open.

On the night of the verdict, one of Dugan’s attorneys, Steve Biskupic, told reporters the “case is a long way from over.” A date for Dugan’s sentencing has not yet been set.

On Dec. 23, Dugan’s attorneys filed a motion signaling that they planned to seek a new trial. In her letter, Dugan indicated that she is still planning to try and overturn her conviction.

“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. “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.”

Dugan’s resignation will allow the governor to appoint someone else to take her place. She had been serving as a Milwaukee County judge since 2016.

In April, the Wisconsin Supreme Court suspended Dugan from her judicial duties because of the ongoing criminal case against her. During that time, reserve judges have been stepping in to fill her role. Dugan’s annual salary was $179,774, according to information provided by a state court spokesperson in late 2025.

Dugan’s case brought national attention to Milwaukee and highlighted the tension between the authority of a local judge and an immigration crackdown under President Donald Trump.

Dugan’s supporters have accused Trump’s Department of Justice of overreach. They’ve also criticized the Trump administration’s practice of having federal officials carry out immigration-related enforcement at courthouses.

Meanwhile federal officials, including U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, have defended the courthouse apprehensions. They say courts are safe place for carrying out immigration arrests in part because the people involved have to go through courthouse metal detectors.