ICE Obstruction Case Against Wisconsin Judge Heads to Trial

Monday will bring a first for the American legal system: a judge on trial for helping an undocumented immigrant evade federal authorities.

Hannah Dugan, a Wisconsin state trial judge, will face a jury after the FBI arrested her in April for ushering a migrant criminal defendant from her courtroom down a private hallway away from awaiting immigration officers. Jurors must weigh whether that snap decision to assist a migrant in her courtroom—in the midst of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown—means she is guilty of obstructing a federal agency and concealing a defendant.

While proponents of convicting Dugan say the trial is critical to preserving federal primacy over immigration law, critics of the president say jurors should vindicate Dugan’s actions, her powers to control her courtroom, and thwart unlawful actions by the Trump administration.

“This is an inflection point, and one of the critically important cases in the course of the rule of law as its unfolding in 2025,” said Norm Eisen, founder of Democracy Defenders Fund and one of the lawyers representing a group of former state and federal judges urging dismissal.



https://news.bloomberglaw.com/litigation/ice-obstruction-case-against-wisconsin-judge-heads-to-trial