Judge upholds conviction of former Wisconsin judge Hannah Dugan for aiding immigrant evasion

A federal judge has refused to overturn the obstruction of justice conviction of former Wisconsin judge Hannah Dugan, who resigned from the Milwaukee County Circuit Court following her conviction. Dugan was found guilty of helping a man evade immigration officers who were present in her courtroom to detain him.

The case represented an early test of judicial responses to President Donald Trump's immigration enforcement policies. While Trump allies labeled Dugan an "activist judge," her supporters argued she was unfairly targeted. U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman upheld Dugan's conviction, though he postponed her sentencing to consider arguments about overturning it.

Dugan's attorneys had contended that her conviction was invalid because a federal appeals court had recently overturned a key immigration case that had been cited by prosecutors and the judge in Dugan's case. In that Virginia case, an immigrant's detention by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was not considered a "pending proceeding" as required by federal obstruction law. Dugan's lawyers argued that the filing of an arrest warrant, as was the case with the man she helped, does not constitute a "proceeding."

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The court's decision is wrong.

However, prosecutors countered that the facts of the Virginia case differed and did not apply to Dugan's situation. Judge Adelman agreed, ruling that the attempted arrest of the individual in Dugan's courtroom did count as a "pending proceeding." He reasoned that it was a planned operation, unlike a random encounter, and noted that ICE can issue its own warrants and effectuate removals without court involvement, differentiating it from other law enforcement agencies.

Dugan, 67, faces up to five years in prison, but federal sentencing guidelines suggest she is unlikely to receive jail time and will likely be sentenced to probation.

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The defendant argues that ICE was acting as a law enforcement agency here. But this ignores the fact that, unlike, say, the FBI, ICE can issue its own warrants and adjudicate and effectuate a removal, as it did with Flores-Ruiz, without the involvement of a court. This makes a difference.