Newly obtained surveillance footage from inside a Wisconsin courthouse shows a county judge speaking with federal law enforcement officers before they arrested an undocumented immigrant moments after his hearing in the judge’s courtroom.
A week later, Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan was placed in handcuffs and accused of obstructing his arrest.
Footage from April 18 provided to The Independent from a public records request shows at least six plain-clothes agents in ball caps and hooded sweatshirts arriving on Dugan’s floor. At one point, one agent sits directly across from Dugan’s courtroom.
Minutes after Dugan’s arrival, agents see Eduardo Flores-Ruiz and his attorney entering the courtroom. Flores-Ruiz faces domestic abuse charges stemming from an argument with his roommates, according to a criminal complaint.
Dugan can be seen speaking to a pair of agents sitting on a bench in the courthouse hallway, and then appears to direct them down the hall. According to the criminal complaint, the agents told the judge they had an administrative warrant, which is typically issued by immigration authorities without a judge.
The judge allegedly told the agents to see the chief judge about their plans to make an arrest inside the courthouse. The complaint accuses Dugan of exhibiting “confrontational, angry demeanor” when speaking with federal agents. The surveillance footage does not include any audio.
Dugan is standing still in the video while speaking with two agents, who appear relaxed and slouched on the benches. One agent begins to walk down the hall while Dugan continues speaking with the other agent. Dugan then gestures towards the other end of the hall. She walks the opposite direction when the agents walk away.
None of the videos show the inside of her courtroom. A hearing for Flores-Ruiz lasted only a few minutes. Federal prosecutors allege Dugan directed Flores-Ruiz and his attorney out of her courtroom through a non-public door.
But video footage shows the door was just a few feet from the main entrance. Flores-Ruiz and his attorney walk past federal agents as they head towards the elevator. One agent follows them to the elevator. According to a criminal complaint, the agent shared an elevator to the lobby with the both of them.
Flores-Ruiz and his attorneys walk down a long hallway to exit the courthouse. An agent is seen walking behind them.
Footage from outside the courthouse shows several agents running from the building. The criminal complaint alleges the agents chased Flores-Ruiz on foot before arresting him.
Surveillance footage is likely to be used by both prosecutors and defense attorneys to make the case against Dugan.
“If you’re predisposed to think that Judge Dugan did something criminal or wrongfully impeded ICE, you can find support for that preconception in the video. It’s not conclusive, but you’ll feel ratified,” Dean Strang, one of Dugan’s attorneys, told ABC News.
“If you start from thinking she didn’t do anything criminal, didn’t do anything wrong, you’ll find support for that in the video,” he added.
“For example, she does not appear to be angry. They don’t show her a warrant. The man comes out within a few minutes, ten or 15 feet from where the agents expected him, and two of them see him coming in the hallway.”
A two-count indictment charges Dugan with obstruction and concealing Flores-Ruiz to prevent his discovery and arrest. The charges carry a maximum penalty of six years in prison and a $350,000 fine.
She has pleaded not guilty.
A trial is tentatively scheduled to begin July 21.
Her high-profile arrest — and Donald Trump’s administration’s promotion of the accusations against her — has escalated the president’s attacks against the judiciary as he launches an aggressive anti-immigration agenda.
Last month, Dugan’s attorneys filed a motion to dismiss the charges, claiming that the “government cannot prosecute Judge Dugan because she is entitled to judicial immunity for her official acts.”
Trump’s efforts to prosecute judges is “virtually unprecedented and entirely unconstitutional,” they added.
The motion cites the Supreme Court’s decision affirming presidential “immunity” from criminal prosecution for actions in office — a ruling that effectively prevented Trump from facing any consequences in the cases against him.
More than 150 former state and federal judges joined a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi blasting Dugan’s case as an attempt to intimidate the judiciary.
“This cynical effort undermines the rule of law and destroys the trust the American people have in the nation’s judges to administer justice in the courtrooms and in the halls of justice across the land,” they wrote.
Last week, dozens of former judges filed a brief urging federal prosecutors to dismiss the case, warning that the indictment against her “threatens to undermine centuries of precedent on judicial immunity, crucial for an effective judiciary.”
The case “represents an extraordinary and direct assault on the independence of the entire judicial system,” the former judges wrote.
Prosecuting a sitting judge “establishes a dangerous precedent that will chill judicial decision-making at every level,” they added.
