The FBI arrests a judge accused of obstructing the arrest of an undocumented migrant

A Wisconsin judge was arrested by FBI agents after allegedly helping an undocumented immigrant who appeared in his court to avoid being arrested.

The federal authorities informed the CBS News chain, an American partner of the BBC, which the agents arrested Hannah Dugan on Friday morning.

In an X post, which was eliminated minutes later, the director of the FBI, Kash Patel, said that Dugan allowed Eduardo Flores Ruiz, a Mexican citizen who faced three minor charges of aggression derived from a fight, escaped from his audience room.

Patel said that the judge was arrested for “obstruction charges” after finding evidence that he interfered in “a migratory arrest operation” by intentionally diverting “the agents who were going to stop Flores Ruiz.

Flores Ruiz had appeared before the Milwaukee Court for a hearing scheduled on April 18, and was then arrested by the immigration authorities.

The newspaper Milwaukee Journal Sentinel He informed that agents of the United States Immigration and Customs Control (ICEY) arrived in the courtroom that day and that Dugan directed them to the office of the main judge.

While the agents were in the office, said the newspaper, Dugan led Flores Ruiz and his lawyer to a side door that gave outside the courtroom.

He Journal Sentinel He informed that Decan refuted the newspaper’s version about the facts, but gave no more details.

The newspaper reported that the charges against Flores Ruiz derived from a fight between housemates last March.

Dugan was elected judge for the first time in 2016 and was re -elected for a second six -year term in 2022.

The “Washington Post” reported that Dugan briefly appeared before a Milwaukee court this Friday, where he faces charges of obstruction and concealment to a person to avoid his arrest, which could lead to a penalty of up to five years in jail.

His lawyer, Craig Mastantuono, told Judge Stephen C. Dries that “Dugan regrets his arrest and protest of all my heart” and assured that the arrest “was not carried out for the sake of public safety.”

Dries ordered Dugan’s release waiting for the judicial process.

The judicial elections in Wisconsin are non -partisan; However, Dugan received support from Milwaukee’s Democratic Mayor.

Milwaukee County Chief Judge Carl Ashley, said in a statement that the cases carried out by Decan will now assume another judge.

The arrest of a judge is very unusual and is interpreted as an escalation in the pulse of the Donald Trump government with the local authorities to carry out the mass deportations that the Republicano promised in the campaign that led him to the presidency.

The Executive has promised to investigate and present charges against local authorities that do not collaborate with federal officials dedicated to the persecution of irregular immigrants and has denounced those called “Santuario cities” for not collaborating in their program of arrests and mass deportations.

Several local authorities have denounced the practice of appealing to arrest undocumented people when they have to appear before the state courts, since they ensure that it infuses the fear of appearing in the court people who face minor legal matters.

According to him New York Times, A Massachusetts judge was accused during Trump’s first presidency to obstruct the work of immigration agents. The charges were retired and the judge faced a disciplinary process.

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