One day before her arraignment, a Wisconsin judge who was indicted on federal obstruction charges for allegedly obstructing government agents during an immigration bust retaliated Wednesday by moving to dismiss her case.
In the new motion, filed in Wisconsin’s Eastern District, Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan argues that immunity is not a defense to the prosecution, which will be decided by a jury or court later. According to her attorneys, “it is an absolute bar to the prosecution at the outset.”
Dugan, who is currently free on bond, was arrested last month on suspicion of aiding an undocumented immigrant in avoiding arrest and of deceiving Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers into believing they required a court order to arrest the person.
She faces charges of concealing a person to avoid his discovery and arrest, which carries a maximum penalty of six years in prison and fines of up to $350,000, and obstructing or impeding a proceeding before a U.S. department or agency.
Dugan’s attorneys denounce her charges and prosecution as “irrelevant to immunity” in her motion. According to the motion, they assert that there would be no means of prosecuting the judge, who has served in Milwaukee County since 2016, even if she committed the alleged offenses, “because she is entitled to judicial immunity for her official acts.”
“There is no legal basis for the government to prosecute her,” according to Dugan’s legal team. “It is prohibited to prosecute her.”
The motion goes on to accuse the government of violating the 10th Amendment and “fundamental principles of federalism and comity reflected in that amendment and in the very structure of the United States Constitution” by prosecuting the judge, calling it “virtually unprecedented and entirely unconstitutional.”
Dugan is charged with aiding Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, a Mexican national who is accused of misdemeanor battery. On April 18, he was attending a hearing in Dugan’s courtroom when ICE agents allegedly attempted to arrest him. According to the motion, a deputy in Dugan’s courtroom stated that she told Flores-Ruiz to go out a jury door.
The motion claims that the government’s prosecution in this case violates the official duties of an elected judge and directly enters a state courthouse, interfering with ongoing proceedings.
Dugan is expected to enter a plea when he appears in court on Thursday.
