‘I’ll get the heat’: Milwaukee judge is now a convicted felon after violent illegal alien dodged ICE from her courtroom
Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images
ICE agents accompanied by both FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration agents traveled to the Milwaukee County Courthouse on April 18, 2025, to arrest Flores-Ruiz, aware that the previously deported Mexican national was scheduled to attend a pre-trial hearing overseen by Dugan.
Upon learning of ICE’s presence from an attorney, the now-felonious judge “became visibly angry, commented that the situation was ‘absurd,’ left the bench, and entered chambers” while Flores-Ruiz was seated in the gallery of the courtroom, according to the original FBI charging document.
The indictment claimed that Dugan proceeded to commit several affirmative acts to aid the illegal alien in evading arrest, including:
- confronting members of the ICE task force and falsely telling them they needed a judicial warrant to effectuate the arrest;
- directing the federal agents to go to the chief judge’s office after she learned they had the required administrative warrant for Flores-Ruiz’s arrest;
- dealing with Flores-Ruiz’s criminal case off the record while the ICE task force was in the chief judge’s office;
- directing the illegal alien and his counsel to flee the courtroom via a non-public jury door; and
- advising the Mexican’s counsel that he could appear remotely for his next court date.
The judge’s actions were observed by multiple witnesses and captured on film.
With Dugan’s help, the Mexican national ran out of the building. Federal agents were, however, able to catch up with him.
Flores-Ruiz was ultimately deported on Nov. 13.
Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, noted at the time, “Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, a previously removed illegal alien, has a laundry list of violent criminal charges, including strangulation and suffocation, battery, and domestic abuse. Judge Hannah Dugan’s actions to obstruct this violent criminal’s arrest take ‘activist judge’ to a whole new meaning.”
In the lead-up to the trial, Dugan’s lawyers tried desperately to get her case dismissed, citing the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Trump v. United States and claiming that the radical judge was immune from criminal prosecution for judicial acts, that her prosecution violates the limits of federal power under the 10th Amendment, and that her indictment should be dismissed under the canon of constitutional avoidance.
Such efforts proved fruitless.
The jury saw and heard plenty of damning evidence during the trial that began on Monday.
They heard, for instance, an audio recording where Dugan told a court reporter that Flores-Ruiz could escape through a side door, reported the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Although Dugan’s court reporter volunteered to walk the illegal alien out, Dugan said she instead would do it: “I’ll get the heat.”
The jury also heard from numerous witnesses, including Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Kristela Cervera, who testified, “Judges should not be helping defendants evade arrest.”
Cervera was the individual who escorted the federal agents to Chief Judge Carl Ashley’s office.
For her felony conviction, Dugan could face up to five years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000.
The disgraced judge’s attorney, Steve Biskupic, indicated Dugan’s team will file a motion with the Clinton-appointed federal judge overseeing the case, U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman, asking to set aside the conviction.
“The case is a long way from over,” said Biskupic.
While Dugan has been on administrative leave for several months, the New York Times indicated she has continued to collect her $174,000 salary.
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