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MILWAUKEE, COUNTRY RESPOND TO ARREST OF JUDGE HANNAH DUGAN  
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Henry Redman and Isiah Holmes
April 25, 2025
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_ “Arresting people out of a courtroom will lead to a breakdown of
civil society. We do not support the presence of ICE where it will
lead to intimidation against witnesses and victims of crimes, denying
everyone involved the justice they deserve." _

Protesters gather outside of the Federal Building in Milwaukee to
denounce the arrest of Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan, (photo by
Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner).

 

After the arrest
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Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan by federal agents Friday morning,
the city’s political and activist communities responded forcefully,
protesting against the arrest across the city. 

Dugan was charged with obstruction of justice and harboring an
individual after a group of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
and other federal agents showed up outside of her courtroom last week
to arrest Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, a 30-year-old Mexican immigrant accused
of misdemeanor battery. 

The criminal complaint against Durgan alleges she broke the law by
allowing Flores-Ruiz to use a side door in her courtroom to exit
without going past the agents. The agents saw him leave and later
apprehended him on foot. 

While a larger protest took place outside of the federal courthouse in
downtown Milwaukee, local resident Jeneca Wolski stood alone outside
of the county courthouse where Dugan was arrested.

“ just a local citizen who is horrified that we are finding
ourselves in this position right now,” Wolski told the Wisconsin
Examiner. “We’re sliding downhill so fast. I don’t want to be
looked back on by history as part of it. We have to do everything we
can to kick and fight and scream to save our democracy right now.” 

At a press conference, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley
accused the administration of President Donald Trump of acting to
intimidate “anyone who opposes these policies.” Crowley added that
Dugan was arrested by a “large, performative showing” of federal
agents in the county courthouse. 

 “We have an obligation to administer our courts in a safe,
efficient manner that delivers due process for anyone,” Crowley
said. “The Trump administration’s actions are clearly preventing
us from doing so by intimidating judges and eroding public faith in
our judicial system.” 

People gathered outside the federal courthouse in Milwaukee Friday
afternoon to protest Dugan’s arrest. At the rally, Christine Neumann
Ortiz, executive director of immigrant rights group Voces De La
Frontera, told the Wisconsin Examiner the Trump administration was
trying to undermine efforts to oppose its immigration policies.

“They basically want to be unleashed to do whatever they want to
commit these raids in courtrooms across the country,” she said.
“They don’t want any resistance from judges or from the community
standing up for people’s due process rights or limiting their
policies of mass deportation and racism.”

Seven of the city of Milwaukee’s legislative representatives said in
a joint statement that Dugan’s arrest and ICE operating inside the
courthouse will “lead to a breakdown of civil society.”

“The County Courthouse is a sanctuary for justice and peace where
the accused come forward willingly in a fair and unbiased process,”
said the lawmakers, Sens. Chris Larson and Tim Carpenter and Reps.
Christine Sinicki, Darrin Madison, Supreme Moore Omokunde, Angelito
Tenorio and Sequanna Taylor. “Arresting people out of a courtroom
will lead to a breakdown of civil society. We do not support the
presence of ICE in places where it will lead to intimidation against
witnesses and victims of crimes, denying everyone involved the justice
they deserve.”

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois), the ranking Democrat on the Senate
Judiciary Committee, questioned how Dugan’s arrest makes the country
safer. 

“The Trump Administration continues to test the limits of our
Constitution — this time by arresting a sitting judge for allegedly
obstructing an immigration operation at the courthouse,” Durbin
said. “When immigration enforcement officials interfere with our
criminal justice system, it undermines public safety, prevents victims
and witnesses from coming forward, and often prevents those who
committed crimes from facing justice in the United States. How does
this make America any safer? How does arresting a sitting judge make
America any safer? It is imperative that Judge Dugan is afforded due
process and the presumption of innocence, as required by our
Constitution and her fundamental rights as an American.”

State Senate Minority Leader Diane Hesselbein (D-Middleton) and Sen.
Dora Drake (D-Milwaukee), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Committee
on Judiciary and Public Safety, criticized the arrest in a joint
statement. 

“Today’s arrest of a sitting judge, at the Milwaukee County
Courthouse, is a frightening escalation of the Trump
Administration’s attacks on America’s judicial system,” they
said. “This is part of a pattern by this Administration – defying
court orders, flouting the democratic system of checks and balances,
ignoring the right to due process, and threatening judicial
independence – that alarms us as legislators and as residents of
this great state and this great country. We will follow this case
closely. We will continue to stand up to lawless and unconstitutional
actions. And, we will always fight for a bedrock principle of American
democracy: equal justice under the law.”

The Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, an
activist group, was planning protests Friday afternoon outside the
federal courthouse and Saturday outside the FBI’s Milwaukee field
office. In a statement, the group said the arrest was a “heinous
attack.” 

“They are seeking to send a clear message: either you play along
with Trump’s agenda, or pay the consequences,” the group said.
“During this period of racist and political repression, we must
stand together to denounce today’s actions by the FBI. What happened
to Dugan is not new. The FBI and other agencies have been emboldened
in recent months, snatching people off the streets, separating
families, terrorizing communities, breaking doors down of
pro-Palestine activists, and contributing to the unjust deportation of
immigrants who don’t have criminal records. What is new is that they
have gone after a judge.”

_Henry Redman is a staff reporter for the Wisconsin Examiner who
focuses on covering Wisconsin's towns and rural areas. He previously
covered crime and courts at the Daily Jefferson County Union. A
lifelong Midwesterner, he was born in Cleveland, Ohio and graduated
from Loyola University Chicago with a degree in journalism in May
2019._

_Isiah Holmes is a journalist and videographer, and a lifelong
resident of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His writing has been featured in
Urban Milwaukee, Isthmus, Milwaukee Stories, Milwaukee Neighborhood
News Services, Pontiac Tribune, the Progressive Magazine, Al Jazeera,
and other outlets._

_Wisconsin Examiner is part of States Newsroom
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nonprofit news organization.  In Wisconsin’s great progressive
tradition, we aim to hold the powerful accountable to the people,
follow the money, and dig out the truth. Although we give you the
inside scoop, we are not a publication for “insiders.” Instead, we
cover the way politics and government affect citizens of the state._

* constitutional rights
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* Courts
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* Judicial system
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* immigrant rights
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* ICE
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