Former Judge Hannah Dugan avoids prison, fined $5,000 in ICE obstruction case

A federal judge Wednesday fined former Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan $5,000 for obstructing an immigration arrest outside her courtroom, declining to sentence her to prison or probation. 

The long-awaited decision came seven months after Dugan was convicted in December and  over a year after she confronted an undercover arrest team of federal agents waiting outside her courtroom to arrest Eduardo Florez-Ruiz, a Mexican-born man who was appearing in her court in a domestic violence case. 

When he was taken into custody in April 2025, Florez-Ruiz was one of a series of immigrants arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the Milwaukee County courthouse over a period of a few weeks. Judges began drafting a policy to guide interactions with ICE around the facility, concerned that the arrests would have a chilling effect on people using the courthouse or appearing for hearings. 

Dugan, in her judicial robe, confronted the arrest team in the hallway outside her courtroom alongside a fellow judge, who later testified against Dugan at her trial. Dugan told the agents to check in with Chief Judge Carl Ashley before going back to her own court to set a new court date for Florez-Ruiz. 

Dugan then allowed Florez-Ruiz and his attorney to exit the courtroom using a non-public hallway. The pair went back out into the main public hallway and unknowingly rode the elevator down with an undercover agent. Florez-Ruiz was arrested outside the courthouse after a brief chase. 

Dugan was charged with obstructing an immigration proceeding and concealing Florez-Ruiz from agents. After her high-profile trial in December, a jury found her guilty of felony obstruction but not guilty of concealing Flores-Ruiz. Federal prosecutors asked Judge Lynn Adelman to send Dugan to prison.

Adelman rejected an appeal by Dugan’s defense team to overturn her conviction. On Wednesday, however, he listened patiently as people took the stand to testify about Dugan’s character. 

Witnesses described Dugan  as a talented attorney and as someone who had dedicated her entire life to public service. She presided over thousands of cases as an elected judge and was also active in her church and volunteered her time to help some of the most vulnerable people in the city, supporters said. 

Dugan also spoke briefly, saying that her case had been politicized and that she is neither the hero nor the villain that she had been made out to be. Due to the ICE arrests, she said, the courthouse had been placed in an untenable position. She told Adelman that “it is with a heavy heart” that she stood before him as a defendant, and that she wants to return to her service to the community. 

Prosecutors countered that good people can make bad or criminal decisions, and that Dugan deserved a sentence that reflects the need for citizens to obey the law. The former judge committed an “abuse of trust” they said.  

Prosecutors also dismissed what they called “collateral consequences” Dugan experienced after her arrest, including having to resign her judgeship, having to move following threats on her life, being convicted as a felon and having to remove herself from community service and participation in public events. They repeatedly brought up Dugan’s assertion to court staff that she’d “take the heat” for dealing with the agents. 

Adelman said he had considered all the circumstances of the case and relevant laws in weighing his sentencing decision.

“This is a person that’s done a lot of good for our community,” said Adelman, noting that Dugan, who is 67, has no prior criminal record.

Adelman said that he believed Dugan was not in need of “corrective treatment”  such as a prison term or  or probation. He said that it is important that a punishment not only fit the crime, but also fit the offender, and that what prosecutors called “collateral consequences” were sufficient punishments.

Adleman told Dugan that the $5,000 fine he imposed is due immediately. Dugan’s attorneys spoke briefly to media outside, saying that they plan to appeal the case. They did not take questions, and prosecutors did not appear outside to talk to reporters.