Hundreds flocked to the Milwaukee Federal Building in Downtown Milwaukee Friday afternoon in the wake of County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan’s arrest by the FBI earlier in the day.
Judge Dugan was arrested by the FBI for allegedly helping an undocumented immigrant evade arrest the week prior. Judge Dugan was one of two judges arrested in the country today with New Mexico Judge Joel Cano — and his wife Nancy — for allegedly housing a Venezuelan national with reported gang ties.
Local organizations and elected officials hastily organized a protest of the sudden detainment of Judge Dugan.
“What she did was right,” said Christine Nueman Ortiz, executive director of Voces de al Frontera. “She was defending the rights of immigrants in her courtroom, and thus the rights of all of us in the courtroom. Now we are here to stand with her.”
Judge Dugan is accused of escorting the man and his lawyer outside of her courtroom through the jury door to evade ICE agents seeking to arrest him. Authorities took the man into custody outside of the courthouse after he was pursued on foot, the Associated Press reported.
Speakers at the protest called Judge Dugan’s arrest “another example of Donald Trump’s weaponization of federal agencies to intimidate judges, immigrants and any of us standing in the way of the Trump Administration’s attack on us.”
The protest called for an end to the Trump Administration’s circumvention of due process and the release of the circuit court judge, citing the arrest as an escalation. They called on the administration to end targeting all judges, lawyers and community leaders who act in defense of immigrant rights.
“The arrest of Judge Hannah Dugan was announced by FBI Director Kash Patel on social media which is indicative of the true goal of this action: to intimidate other judges into complying with his administrative, authoritative goals,” said Rep. Chris Larson, D-7.
“We, the undersigned members of the Milwaukee delegation of the Wisconsin State Legislature condemn ICE arrests at sensitive locations like courthouses, schools, churches and hospitals. Places where people have an expectation of peace and safety. Due process is not just a fundamental right guaranteed by our constitution, iti is a matter of human dignity and compassion,” Larson continued.
Voces de la Frontera is concerned about the potential downstream effects on immigrants from the arrest. Ortiz worries that immigrants will think, “If they can arrest a judge, then they can certainly arrest me.”
More protests are planned tomorrow in front of the FBI Building, 3600 S. Lake Dr in St. Francis, at 3 p.m. and previously planned “A Day Without Immigrants,” which will occur in Milwaukee and Madison on May 1 and 2, respectively.
