US judge upholds conviction of ex-judge who helped man evade federal agents

Activists say former judge Hannah Dugan was targeted by the Trump administration for defiance over immigration raids.

A United States federal judge has upheld the conviction of Hannah Dugan, a former Wisconsin judge who was convicted of helping a man evade federal immigration agents who came to her courtroom.

US District Judge Lynn Adelman had previously postponed Dugan’s sentencing to consider efforts to overturn her conviction, but declined to do so in a decision on Tuesday.

“The court’s decision is wrong,” Dugan’s legal defence team said in a statement in response to the decision.

Dugan’s arrest and prosecution by the government underscored the aggressive approach of US President Donald Trump’s administration towards officials who Trump considers lenient towards immigrants or who defy the federal government’s mass deportation efforts.

The former Wisconsin judge confronted immigration agents who had shown up to her court seeking an undocumented man named Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, scheduled to appear for a hearing in a state battery case, telling them that their administrative warrant was not sufficient to arrest Flores-Ruiz.

She was convicted of helping him evade agents by leading the undocumented man and his attorney out of a private jury door. Dugan, who served as a judge for nine years before resigning amid impeachment threats from state Republicans, was arrested in the courthouse and led out in handcuffs a week later.

Republican officials have depicted Dugan as an activist judge who helped a person in the country illegally to avoid law enforcement. The 67-year-old faces a possible sentence of five years in prison after being convicted on December 19, but is likely to receive probation instead based on her status as a person with no criminal history convicted of a nonviolent crime.

Dugan’s attorneys argued that the Trump administration targeted her for defying the government on a key priority.

Previous administrations have largely declined to conduct immigration-related arrests at courthouses due to concerns that it could discourage immigrants from accessing the legal system or reporting crimes.

The Trump administration has broken with that tradition, along with immigration raids on other sensitive locations such as houses of worship.