Background: Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan in court (WTMJ/YouTube). Inset: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducting a raid (Fox News/YouTube).
A Wisconsin judge who has been indicted on federal obstruction charges — accused of impeding government agents during an immigration bust — fired back Wednesday with a motion to dismiss her case, just one day before she’s set to be arraigned.
“Immunity is not a defense to the prosecution to be determined later by a jury or court,” argues Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan in the new motion, which was filed in Wisconsin’s Eastern District. “It is an absolute bar to the prosecution at the outset,” her lawyers say.
Dugan, who is out on bond, was arrested last month for allegedly helping an undocumented immigrant evade detainment and for falsely telling Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents that they needed to obtain a judicial warrant to take the individual into custody. She is charged with obstructing or impeding a proceeding before a department or agency of the United States, and concealing an individual to prevent his discovery and arrest, which carry a maximum penalty of 6 years in prison and up to $350,000 in fines.
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In her motion, Dugan’s lawyers condemn her charges and prosecution as being “irrelevant to immunity.” They claim that even if the judge, who has been on the bench in Milwaukee County since 2016, did what she’s accused of doing, there would be no way of prosecuting her “because she is entitled to judicial immunity for her official acts,” according to the motion.
“The government has no basis in law to prosecute her,” Dugan’s legal team says. “The prosecution against her is barred.”
The government’s prosecution of the judge is “virtually unprecedented and entirely unconstitutional,” the motion adds, arguing that it violates the 10th Amendment and “fundamental principles of federalism and comity reflected in that amendment and in the very structure of the United States Constitution.”
Dugan is accused of helping a Mexican national named Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, who is facing misdemeanor battery charges. He was in Dugan’s courtroom on April 18 for a hearing when ICE agents allegedly tried to take him into custody. A deputy in Dugan’s courtroom claimed she directed Flores-Ruiz to leave through a jury door, per the motion.
“The government’s prosecution here reaches directly into a state courthouse, disrupting active proceedings, and interferes with the official duties of an elected judge,” the motion alleges.
Dugan is scheduled to appear in court on Thursday to enter a plea.
