OAN Staff Abril Elfi
11:52 AM – Wednesday, May 14, 2025
Hannah Dugan, the Wisconsin judge accused of attempting to help an illegal migrant evade U.S. immigration authorities, has officially been indicted.
A federal jury indicted Dugan on Tuesday following her arrest last month.
The Department of Justice has formally charged her with assisting an illegal non-citizen in evading U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). In addition, she is also facing allegations of “obstruction of justice” for concealing Mexican national Eduardo Flores-Ruiz from federal law enforcement — following a pre-trial hearing.
According to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, the indictment came at the end of a day-long hearing.
Initially, Dugan was charged with sheltering an individual to avoid arrest and obstruction, a lesser offense, but the grand jury found sufficient probable cause to pursue the case.
Dugan was temporarily relieved of her duties following the arrest late last month, and her defense team had issued a brief statement on the latest development — emphasizing Dugan’s alleged “innocence.”
This comes after Flores-Ruiz appeared before Dugan on April 18th for a pre-trial conference on three misdemeanor battery charges.
At the time, ICE agents showed up outside the courtroom with a federal warrant for Flores-Ruiz’s arrest, but they were asked by court officials to wait until the hearing ended before cuffing him, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported — citing law enforcement sources. However, before agents could finally enter the courtroom, Dugan purportedly directed Flores-Ruiz and his lawyer out a side door and through a private hallway, in order to avoid being found by the agents.
The judge refrained from commenting after information emerged in news headlines regarding how the feds were investigating her accused interference.
Meanwhile, the 30-year-old non-citizen, which Dugan attempted to hide from authorities, is now being held in custody by ICE at the Dodge Detention Facility in Juneau, Wisconsin, just 50 miles northwest of Milwaukee. According to court documents, he illegally entered the U.S. once more after he was already once deported in 2013.
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