Wisconsin judge who helped illegal immigrant avoid arrest resigns two weeks after conviction

A Wisconsin judge who escorted an illegal immigrant out a back door to evade capture has resigned.

Hannah C. Dugan, who was convicted of felony obstruction in federal court last month for trying to help Eduardo Flores-Ruiz – a previously deported illegal immigrant with a list of violent charges – evade Immigration and Customs Enforcement, sent a resignation letter to Gov. Tony Evers on Saturday.

“As you know, I am the subject of unprecedented federal legal proceedings, which are far from concluded but which present immense and complex challenges that threaten the independence of our judiciary,” wrote the former Milwaukee County Circuit Court judge. 

Dugan was convicted following a four-day jury trial. She faces up to five years in prison. Republican state lawmakers had threatened to impeach her if she did not resign. 

The case received national attention in April after she was caught on video misdirecting ICE agents who had come to arrest Flores-Ruiz, who was facing trial in her courtroom on a battery charge. She reportedly let him out through a back door, telling him his hearing would be continued on Zoom, but agents caught him following a foot chase. 

Flores-Ruiz, whose charges include strangulation and suffocation, battery and domestic abuse, was deported in November by the Department of Homeland Security. 

“Judge Hannah Dugan’s actions to obstruct this violent criminal’s arrest take ‘activist judge’ to a whole new meaning,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a release announcing the deportation. “Thanks to the brave men and women of ICE law enforcement, this criminal is out of our country.” 

Dugan indicated she is fighting the conviction but did not cite specific plans. 

“I’m pursuing this fight for myself and for our independent judiciary,” she wrote Evers, adding, “My faith in God and in our legal system leads me to trust that in the long run justice will be served.” 

But federal officials said the judge is not a martyr. 

“Former Wisconsin state judge Hannah Dugan betrayed her oath and the people she served when she obstructed federal law enforcement during an immigration enforcement operation,” Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche posted on X. “Today, a federal jury of her peers found her guilty and sent a clear message: The American people respect law and order.”