Wisconsin Judge Hannah Dugan, convicted of felony obstruction for her role in an immigration arrest at a Milwaukee County courthouse, resigned after Republicans moved toward impeachment, according to Dugan’s resignation letter and a statement from Gov. Tony Evers’s office.
In a letter sent Saturday, Dugan told Evers that the case against her had become a distraction and that federal legal proceedings were “far from concluded,” while posing “immense and complex challenges that threaten the independence of our judiciary,” the Associated Press reported. The same letter said that she had over the past decade handled thousands of cases with “a commitment to treat all persons with dignity and respect, to act justly, deliberately and consistently, and to maintain a courtroom with the decorum and safety the public deserves.”
Evers’s spokeswoman said the governor’s office received the letter and that he would work to fill the vacancy without delay, according to the AP report. Republican state legislative leaders praised Dugan’s decision, while Democratic figures urged maintaining a steady bench in Milwaukee County during the period of litigation.
The obstruction conviction grew out of events surrounding an April 18 encounter at the Milwaukee County courthouse. The AP reported that immigration officers went to the courthouse after learning that 31-year-old Eduardo Flores-Ruiz had reentered the country illegally and was scheduled to appear before Dugan for a hearing in a state battery case.
According to federal prosecutors as described in the AP report, Dugan confronted immigration agents outside her courtroom and directed them to the office of her boss, Milwaukee County Chief Judge Carl Ashley, after she told the agents their administrative warrant was not sufficient grounds to arrest Flores-Ruiz. The AP said that after the agents left, Dugan led Flores-Ruiz and his attorney out a private jury door. Agents later spotted Flores-Ruiz in the corridor, followed him outside, and arrested him after a foot chase.
A federal jury convicted Dugan of felony obstruction after prosecutors had accused her of distracting the officers and helping the immigrant avoid arrest at the courthouse. The AP reported that the case was highlighted by President Donald Trump as he pressed ahead with what Democrats described as a sweeping immigration crackdown, and Democrats argued the administration was trying to make an example of Dugan to blunt judicial opposition to the operation.
Republican Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos praised Dugan’s resignation, calling it the “right thing” to do and saying she had followed the Wisconsin Constitution, according to the AP report. Democratic Ann Jacobs, who chairs the Wisconsin Elections Commission board, said she agreed with Dugan that Milwaukee should have a permanent judge in place while the fight plays out, and Jacobs posted on X that she believed Dugan remained “ever the champion of justice” despite the personal pressure.
The AP report also said the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced in November that Flores-Ruiz had been deported.