The big surprise about that judge arrested for allegedly helping an illegal alien escape from ICE

 

By Andrea Widburg

It’s big news: Judge Hannah Dugan, a Milwaukee County circuit judge, was arrested today because she allegedly assisted an illegal alien in escaping when ICE agents showed up at the courthouse to arrest him. If you’re like me, you’re not surprised that a leftist judge broke the law. Instead, you’re extremely surprised that the federal government is making her pay the price for her illegal conduct.

The underlying allegations are simple:

In a criminal complaint, the U.S. Justice Department said Hannah Dugan, a Milwaukee County circuit judge, refused to turn over the man after immigration agents showed up to arrest him in her courtroom on April 18, and that she tried to help him evade arrest by allowing him to exit through a jury door.

(You can read all the allegations here.)

According to Pam Bondi, Dugan acted with overwrought intent:

Wild! Attorney General Pam Bondi explains what really happened with Milwaukee Judge Hannah Dugan that led to her arrest by FBI:

"The Judge learns that ICE was outside to get the guy, because he had been deported in 2013, came back into our country, charged with committing these… pic.twitter.com/Af7a1JdJR4

— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) April 25, 2025

Just as the allegations are simple, so is the law. Per 8 U.S.C. § 1324:

(a) Criminal penalties

(1)(A) Any person who—

 

(iii) knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that an alien has come to, entered, or remains in the United States in violation of law, conceals, harbors, or shields from detection, or attempts to conceal, harbor, or shield from detection, such alien in any place, including any building or any means of transportation;

shall be punished as provided in subparagraph (B).

According to subparagraph (B), the consequences are steep: Since Dugan presumably acted not for financial gain, which could mean up to 10 years in prison, but for other reasons (e.g., fighting imaginary “Nazis”), she faces fines or up to five years in prison, or both.

Dugan has now joined Judge Jose “Joel” Cano, the recently resigned New Mexico judge, and his wife, Nancy, who were arrested for allegedly knowingly harboring in their home an illegal alien who is a Tren de Aragua member.

Because I am accustomed to morally corrupt leftist judges, having practiced law in the San Francisco Bay Area for 30 years, it doesn’t surprise me in the slightest that these judges, assuming the allegations are true, blatantly violated federal law. After all, as we’ve seen for years now, leftist judges will not apply the law to favored defendants, whether because the defendants belong to a Democrat protected class (race, sexual identity, etc.) or because the judges disagree with the law.

Given that fact, why would they balk when it came to their own conduct and laws with which they disagree?  So, no surprise there.

I’m also unsurprised at the way the news is being greeted on the left, which is that it’s just so wrong that she was arrested. After all, for leftists, there is no difference between people who are innocents rounded up strictly based on their race, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, rounding up people who arrived in this country illegally and committed heinous crimes, such as murder, rape, and drug and sex trafficking. There’s also no difference in their minds between the innocents being slaughtered en masse and people here illegally being returned to their own countries or, if criminals, sent to a prison:

NOW: Hundreds of protesters gather at the federal courthouse in downtown Milwaukee to support of Judge Hannah Dugan who was arrested and accused of helping a man elude ICE agents last week.
More on @CBS58 tonight at 4 and 5pm pic.twitter.com/gTypvGRdRH

— PAVLINA OSTA (@pavlinaosta) April 25, 2025

HAPPENING NOW: Protesters have gathered outside a federal courthouse in Milwaukee following the arrest of Judge Hannah Dugan pic.twitter.com/pHyS7poLD0

— Marco Foster (@MarcoFoster_) April 25, 2025

Then there’s Milwaukee’s mayor, Cavalier Johnson, complaining that it’s just so wrong for the Trump administration to scare innocent illegal aliens—with the implication that the judge acted righteously:

Unbelievable. The Democrat Mayor of Milwaukee Cavalier Johnson just criticized the Trump administration for arresting Judge Hannah Dugan for obstructing ICE from arresting an illegal accused of domestic violence, because it's "scaring immigrant communities" and "it's making our… pic.twitter.com/4Fe0NxOR11

— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) April 25, 2025

Milwaukee’s County Executive had exactly the same line—how dare the Trump administration scare these nice illegal aliens?

My statement on the arrest of Judge Hannah Dugan. pic.twitter.com/i02SG1xfTZ

— County Executive David Crowley (@DavidCrowleyWI) April 25, 2025

So, no, none of the above surprises me. What surprises me is that, faced with judges who allegedly openly violated very clear laws, the Trump administration actually arrested them.

I’ve been worried that Pam Bondi and Kash Patel might have been all hat and no cattle, but perhaps they were just getting their ducks in a row, cleaning the rot out of their agencies, finding people they can trust, and making sure to pick cases that are so blatant that, even if rogue judges or juries pervert the outcome, the public will know what’s going on.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2025/04/the_big_surprise_about_that_judge_arrested_for_allegedly_helping_an_illegal_alien_escape_from_ice.html