Former Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan is avoiding prison time despite being found guilty of obstructing ICE agents after Clinton-appointed Judge Lynn Adelman decided that Dugan is a “good person upset by immigration enforcement in this country.”
Dugan was convicted last year after ICE agents showed up to the Milwaukee County courthouse to detain 31-year-old Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, who had entered the country illegally and was appearing before Dugan for a hearing in a state battery case. Dugan first confronted the ICE agents before helping Flores-Ruiz and his attorney sneak out through the back doorof her courtroom. Flores-Ruiz was caught moments later and later deported, while Dugan was later arrested by the FBI.
Dugan was convicted of felony obstruction and faced up to five years in prison. Prosecutors reportedly requested that Dugan serve between 15 and 21 months in prison.
Notably, Dugan appeared to show no remorse for her actions, telling the court prior to sentencing that her “acts that day were consistent with community concerns at the courthouse.”
Nonetheless, Adelman decided to give her a slap on the wrist.
“This is a situation where an otherwise good person upset by immigration enforcement in this country, a sentiment widely shared, made a bad decision in the moment,” Adelman said in court, according to Fox News’ Bill Melugin.
Adelman has made his political bias clear, according to reporting by The Federalist’s Matt Kittle. Adelman wrote a piece in 2020 entitled “The Roberts Court’s Assault on Democracy” that attacked the conservative majority of the court. In that essay, Adelman accused President Donald Trump of being an “autocrat.”
In fact, when Adelman was selected to oversee Dugan’s case, Jeff Wagner, a former lawyer and radio host, said on X: “Talk about luck of the draw! Following indictment, the Dugan prosecution was randomly assigned to Judge Lynn Adelman. Judge Adelman, age 85, is the most liberal judge in the Eastern District of Wisconsin and maybe one of the more liberal judges in the US.”
