April 25, 2025 02:50 PM UTC

So We're Arresting Judges Now

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• by: Colorado Pols

Federal law enforcement officials, led by FBI Director Kash Patel, took a new step today in the Trump administration’s ongoing battle with judges who are not in full agreement with White House policies.

As The New York Times explains:

F.B.I. agents arrested a Milwaukee county judge on Friday on charges of obstructing immigration agents, saying she steered an undocumented immigrant through a side door in her courtroom while the agents waited to arrest him in a public hallway.

The charges against a sitting state court judge are a major escalation in the Trump administration’s battle with local authorities over deportations. The administration has demanded, under threat of investigation or prosecution, that local officials not impede federal efforts to deport millions of undocumented immigrants.

And the arrest of Judge Hannah Dugan comes after months of rising tensions between the Trump administration and the judiciary, in which the president and his top advisers have repeatedly assailed “local judges” for halting or questioning actions taken by the administration, particularly when it comes to immigration cases.

Charging documents described a confrontation last Friday at Judge Dugan’s courthouse, in which federal agents said she was “visibly upset and had a confrontational, angry demeanor” when a group of immigration, D.E.A. and F.B.I. agents came to arrest Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, a citizen of Mexico who was in her courtroom to face domestic violence charges.

Here’s more from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on the arrest of Judge Hannah Dugan:

According to a 13-page complaint, Dugan, 65, is accused of obstructing a U.S. agency and concealing an individual to prevent an arrest. The two charges carry a maximum penalty of six years in prison and a $350,000 fine, but sentences in cases involving nonviolent offenses typically are much shorter.

Specifically, the complaint says Dugan assisted Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, an undocumented Mexican immigrant, avoid being arrested by federal immigration officials at the Milwaukee County Courthouse after he appeared in her courtroom for a pretrial conference on April 18. Flores-Ruiz is facing three misdemeanor battery counts.

If Judge Dugan did, in fact, help Eduardo Flores-Ruiz leave a courtroom via a separate exit, this is probably going to be a tough case to argue against. But as POLITICO reports, the White House seems positively thrilled to now be arresting judges:

The Trump administration has pledged to investigate and potentially prosecute local officials who refuse to cooperate with the administration’s sweeping deportation agenda. A Department of Justice memo sent in January told federal prosecutors to pursue charges when necessary.

And in February, Trump signed an executive order directing agency heads to ensure federal funding wasn’t facilitating illegal immigration or “sanctuary policies that seek to shield illegal aliens from deportation.”

Trump administration officials celebrated the charges on Friday. Attorney General Pam Bondi shared a warning to officials who assist undocumented immigrants with avoiding arrest during a Friday appearance on Fox News: “We’re going to prosecute you and we are prosecuting you.” [Pols emphasis]

Quotes such as this make it difficult to view the arrest of Judge Dugan in objective terms. As David Crowley, the Milwaukee County executive, responded in a statement:

“It is clear that the F.B.I. is politicizing this situation to make an example of her and others across the country who oppose their attack on the judicial system and our nation’s immigration laws.”

We suppose both things can be true at the same time — that Judge Dugan did break the law and that the Trump administration is eager to make an example of judges that don’t just roll over for them — but this is still a disturbing development.

This could also backfire for Trump, given new poll results out today. From a separate story in The New York Times:

Voters believe President Trump is overreaching with his aggressive efforts to expand executive power, and they have deep doubts about some of the signature pieces of his agenda, a New York Times/Siena College poll found. [Pols emphasis]

The turbulent early months of Mr. Trump’s administration are seen as “chaotic” and “scary” by majorities of voters — even many who approve of the job he is doing. Voters do not view him as understanding the problems in their daily lives and have soured on his leadership as he approaches his 100th day in office…

…Voters said he had “gone too far” on issue after issue — his tariffs, his immigration enforcement, his cuts to the federal work force. Broad numbers of independent voters sided with Democrats in believing that he had overreached.

Overall, a 54 percent majority said that Mr. Trump was “exceeding the powers available to him,” including 16 percent of Republicans and 62 percent of independent voters. [Pols emphasis]

According to the Times/Sienna College Poll, Trump’s historically-low approval ratings are dragged lower by the fact that just 29 percent of independent voters are enjoying them some Trump overall.