Aren’t judges supposed to be the ones who uphold the law?
Now, I’m not going to go on some big lecture about the Constitution and the Supremacy Clause and all that stuff, but suffice it to say, when judges are sworn in they take an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States as well as all state and federal laws.
But one judge is now behind bars for allegedly helping a criminal escape the law.
FBI Director Kash Patel announced today that his agents had arrested Milwaukee, Wisconsin circuit court judge Hannah Dugan on charges of obstruction after she allegedly helped an illegal immigrant who was in her courtroom evade arrest by ICE agents after he appeared in her courtroom last week.
According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, illegal immigrant Eduardo Flores-Ruiz was in court in front of Judge Dugan last week on three misdemeanor domestic violence battery charges. ICE agents showed up at the courthouse to take Flores-Ruiz into custody, and according to an email from Chief Judge Carl Ashley, presented an arrest warrant to take the immigrant into custody.
The agents were asked to wait until the hearing was over before taking him into custody, but Dugan allegedly directed the defendant and his attorney to a side door in the courtroom and down a private hallway so that he could evade arrest.
Flores-Ruiz was able to escape the courthouse, but was chased down by agents on foot and taken into custody.
Judge Dugan was arrested around 8 AM this morning at the courthouse, and is currently in federal custody.
The battle between ICE and state judges comes after a now-former judge was arrested in New Mexico just days after stepping down amid allegations that he was harboring a suspected Tren de Aragua gang member in his house.
In late February, Homeland Security arrested three illegal immigrants on former Doña Ana County magistrate Joel Cano’s property. The feds say that three men were well-known gang members, and had allegedly been living in Cano’s guest house after performing handyman work for him.
The judge could also be seen in pictures with the men, including photos on social media showing alleged Venezuelan gang member and illegal immigrant Cristhian Ortega-Lopez holding firearms.
The New Mexico Judicial Standards Commission launched an investigation against Cano for willful misconduct, but he ended up resigning his position as a judge before the investigation could take place. In his resignation letter, Cano denied any wrongdoing and claimed he was unaware of any gang ties until the day of the raid by Homeland Security.
Cano and his wife were arrested yesterday evening after being charged with one count each of tampering with evidence.
Obviously immigration enforcement has been a top priority of President Donald Trump during his second term, and it hasn’t been popular with many Democrats or liberal elected officials. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez even gave advice to illegal immigrants on how to avoid ICE, which led AOC to write a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi demanding to know whether she was under investigation for helping illegal immigrants avoid arrest.
It seems pretty clear that the administration is going to do whatever it takes to arrest and deport anyone who’s here illegally – and they’re not going to put up with elected officials who break the law to stand in their way.
