The Trump administration has been locked in an escalating confrontation with federal judges, as several have issued rulings that limit its aggressive use of presidential power in immigration and other matters. State courts have played a less significant role in that dispute.
FBI Director Kash Patel said on social media that agents had arrested Dugan for interfering with the arrest of Flores-Ruiz, whom he described as an “illegal alien”. He later deleted that post, made before the case against Dugan was unsealed in federal court in a possible violation of secrecy rules.
US Senator Dick Durbin, the most senior Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the Trump administration “continues to test the limits of our Constitution”, and that when immigration officials “interfere” with the criminal justice system it prevents witnesses and victims from coming forward.
“How does arresting a sitting judge make America any safer?” Durbin said in his statement.
SECOND JUDGE CHARGED
Federal authorities this week also arrested a former New Mexico judge and charged him with evidence tampering, court records show, after a man who authorities allege was linked to a Venezuelan street gang was found living on his property.
The former judge, Joel Cano, was charged alongside his wife Nancy after they allegedly helped the man, who faces illegal gun possession charges, destroy a cellphone believed to contain evidence of him holding firearms, according to a criminal complaint.
Joel Cano was barred by the state supreme court on Tuesday from serving as a judge in the state.
Lawyers for Joel and Nancy Cano did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In the Wisconsin case, a criminal complaint alleged Dugan became “visibly angry” and said it was “absurd” when plainclothes immigration agents arrived on April 18, saying they wanted to arrest Flores-Ruiz after he left her court, where he faced misdemeanour battery charges related to domestic abuse.
Speaking in the corridor outside, she asked the agents if they had a judicial warrant for his arrest, and they told her they did not, only an administrative warrant issued by a colleague at the Department of Homeland Security.
Dugan told the agents they needed a judicial warrant to arrest someone inside the courthouse and told them to speak with the chief judge, the complaint said.
She then returned to her courtroom and, after adjourning the hearing, directed Flores-Ruiz and his attorney to leave through a door which led to a non-public area of the courthouse, the complaint said. Agents outside approached Flores-Ruiz as he left the courthouse, and arrested him after a chase on foot, about 22 minutes after they first saw him arrive at court.
Carl Ashley, chief judge of the Milwaukee court, declined to comment.
The complaint said Flores-Ruiz had previously been deported to Mexico.
“Since President Trump was inaugurated, activist judges have tried to obstruct President Trump and the American people’s mandate to make America safe and secure our homeland,” DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement, “but this judge’s actions to shield an accused violent criminal illegal alien from justice is shocking and shameful.”
