Senate Judiciary Chair Issues Warning Following Arrest of Wisconsin Judge

Milwaukee Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan

SACRAMENTO — Sen. Thomas J. Umberg, Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, issued the following statement today in response to Federal Bureau of Investigations Director Kash Patel’s announcement on X this morning that a Wisconsin Judge had been arrested:

“It is a sad day for democracy and the rule of law. Public safety is also deeply undermined when our courthouses become inhospitable, unwelcoming, and dangerous for vulnerable witnesses and parties.

The Trump administration has been threatening the independence of the judicial branch in an effort to consolidate power. The arrest of a state court judge is an escalation of his destruction of our fundamental structure of checks and balances and of our state rights and federalist system. As James Madison wrote in the Federalist papers: “The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands…may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.”

Patel claimed in his post that Milwaukee Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan had been arrested for obstruction of justice for allegedly assisting an immigrant in avoiding arrest after he appeared in her courtroom this week. This is a developing story.

The Associated Press reported that FBI agents arrested Dugan April 26. The Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge is accused of escorting the man and his lawyer out of her courtroom through the jury door last week after learning that immigration authorities were seeking his arrest. The man was taken into custody outside the courthouse after agents chased him on foot.

President Donald Trump’s administration has accused state and local officials of interfering with his immigration enforcement priorities. The arrest also comes amid a growing battle between the administration and the federal judiciary over the president’s executive actions over deportations and other matters.

Protesters chanted and marched outside the FBI after Dugan’s arrest, chanted “Immigrants are here to stay” and held up signs saying, “Liberty and Justice for All” outside the FBI’s Milwaukee division.

Dugan was taken into custody by the FBI the morning of April 26. She appeared briefly in federal court in Milwaukee later that day before being released from custody. She faces charges of “concealing an individual to prevent his discovery and arrest” and obstructing or impeding a proceeding.