A Milwaukee judge who was arrested for allegedly shielding an undocumented immigrant from ICE arrest has argued that she can’t be prosecuted based on the same case that granted President Donald Trump broad immunity for “official” acts.
The FBI arrested Hannah Dugan last month after she allegedly told agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement that they needed a warrant to arrest an undocumented immigrant who had appeared in her courtroom on a misdemeanor charge.
FBI Director Kash Patel accused Dugan in a social media post of “intentionally misdirecting federal agents away” from the man, a Mexican immigrant named Eduardo Flores Ruiz who was nevertheless arrested outside the courthouse.
Dugan was indicted on Tuesday for allegedly concealing a person from arrest and obstruction. A day later, her lawyers argued in a motion to dismiss the case that Dugan is “no ordinary criminal defendant.”
The motion argued that the problems with the prosecution were “legion,” including the fact that they allegedly violated the U.S. Constitution’s fundamental principle of federalism. But “most immediately, the government cannot prosecute Judge Dugan because she is entitled to judicial immunity for her official acts,” it said.