April 30 (UPI) — The Wisconsin Supreme Court has temporarily removed a state judge who was arrested last week on allegations of helping an undocumented migrant evade capture.
Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan was effectively temporarily suspended from her duties on Tuesday, according to an order from the state’s high court.
“[I]n order to uphold the public’s confidence in the courts of this state during the pendency of the criminal proceeding against Judge Dugan, we conclude, on our motion, that it is in the public interest that she be temporarily relieved of her official duties,” the order signed by Wisconsin Supreme Court clerk Samuel Christensen states.
FBI agents arrested Dugan on Friday on two federal charges: obstructing or impeding a proceeding before a department or agency of the United States and concealing an individual to prevent his discovery and arrest.
She is accused of misdirecting federal agents to allow Eduardo Flores Ruiz, an undocumented migrant, to evade capture.
The affidavit supporting the charges against Dugan states that Flores-Ruiz, a Mexican national, was wanted by federal authorities for being in the country undocumented.
He was scheduled to appear at a hearing that Dugan was presiding over on April 18 in a separate case in which Flores-Ruiz faces three counts of battery-domestic abuse.
When federal immigration officers arrived at the court that day to arrest the suspect, Dugan “became visibly angry, commented that the situation was ‘absurd,’ left the bench and entered chambers,” according to the affidavit.
After confronting the federal agents in the court’s hallways, she is accused of returning to the courtroom and escorting Flores-Ruiz and his counsel out through the so-called jury door.
The court documents state that Flores-Ruiz was able to leave the courthouse and led agents on a foot chase before being arrested.
Some Republicans were quick to applaud the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s decision to remove Dugan, with Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Wis., stating, “Wisconsinites deserve law-abiding judges, not activists.”
“Dugan should be removed permanently,” he said on X.
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., similarly called for her permanent removal from the court.
“A black robe and a gavel don’t make a rogue judge above the law,” he said.