On social media, FBI Director Kash Patel said that the FBI had detained a Milwaukee County Circuit judge on Friday, claiming that she had assisted an undocumented immigrant in evading capture.
A law enforcement official told CNN that Judge Hannah Dugan is charged with two offenses: obstruction and sheltering the person from arrest.
Patel's article was swiftly removed when it stated, "We suspect Judge Dugan purposefully led federal agents away from the subject to be arrested in her courthouse, Eduardo Flores Ruiz, allowing the subject – an illegal alien — to elude arrest." "Fortunately, the criminal was apprehended by our operatives after they pursued him on foot, but the public was put in greater risk as a result of the judge's obstruction."
According to the law enforcement officer, Dugan is currently in federal jail until her initial court appearance.
US Marshals Service spokesperson Brady McCarron told CNN that Dugan was taken into custody on the premises of the local courthouse, where she works, about 8:30 a.m. ET on Friday. The federal Marshals Service then processed her.
Later Friday morning, she is scheduled to appear before a federal court in the Eastern District of Wisconsin.
The public does not yet have access to an arrest warrant or criminal complaint.
The Trump administration's emphasis on judges' behavior, especially in relation to immigration enforcement, has increased since the arrest on federal charges. The Justice Department has stated on numerous occasions that it will look into any municipal officials who refuse to cooperate with federal immigration officers.
According to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, when Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrived at the court last week, they headed straight to Dugan's courtroom.
"They were asked whether they had a warrant, and the agents showed the warrant as well as their identity," according to an email from Chief Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Carl Ashley that was quoted by the Journal-Sentinel. The ICE officials were instructed to wait until the court hearing was over, according to the top judge's letter.
After allegedly escaping from Dugan's courthouse while federal immigration officers were about to arrest him days prior, Eduardo Flores-Ruiz was taken into custody earlier this week on a federal criminal complaint.
According to court filings, Flores-Ruiz "fled the building" after discovering that ICE officials were coming to arrest him. He fled once more when the agents encountered him outside the courthouse, but he was quickly "apprehended a short distance away."
Flores-Ruiz's federal court record shows that he is being held and has not yet entered a plea. The claimed charge against Dugan would be unrelated to this case.
