A federal judge just told disgraced former Milwaukee Judge Hannah Dugan she cannot hide behind her robe to escape judgment for helping an illegal immigrant dodge arrest.
Story Snapshot
- Federal Judge Lynn Adelman rejected Dugan’s bid to throw out her felony obstruction conviction.
- Dugan was indicted for helping an illegal immigrant with domestic abuse charges evade federal agents at the courthouse.[2]
- A jury convicted her of obstructing a federal immigration proceeding; she now faces up to five years in prison.[2]
- The court ruled her conduct was not protected “judicial immunity” and could be punished like any other crime.[2]
Judge Who Helped Illegal Immigrant Cannot Escape Conviction
Federal court records show that on April 24, 2025, a grand jury indicted Wisconsin Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan on two counts: obstruction of a federal administrative proceeding and concealment of a person from arrest, both tied to a March 14 incident in her Milwaukee courtroom.[2] Prosecutors said she stepped in to block federal immigration officers from arresting a noncitizen defendant who had already been deported once and now faced several domestic abuse battery charges in state court.[2] The case became a test of whether judges can use their office to shield illegal immigrants from federal law.
At trial in December 2025, a federal jury heard evidence that Dugan challenged the authority of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in the courthouse hallway, told them to go speak to the chief judge, then went back into her courtroom and took the hearing off the record.[2] Prosecutors argued that after the agents left to follow her directions, she allowed the defendant to exit through a secure, non-public door meant for jurors, rather than the main hallway where agents had been waiting.[2][3] The jury found her guilty of obstructing or impeding a proceeding before a federal department, but not guilty on the separate concealment charge.[2]
Judicial Immunity Argument Fails in Federal Court
After the guilty verdict, Dugan tried to overturn the result by arguing that she could not be prosecuted at all because of “absolute judicial immunity.” In a detailed motion, she claimed that everything she did—directing people’s movements around her courtroom and dealing with agents at her door—were official judicial acts that could never be the basis of a criminal case. She also argued that prosecuting a state judge for such acts violated the Tenth Amendment and state sovereignty over its own courts. Her lawyers leaned on broad language from the Supreme Court’s Trump v. United States immunity decision to claim the indictment was “barred” from the start.
On April 6, 2026, U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman rejected those arguments and denied Dugan’s motions for acquittal and a new trial.[2] In his ruling, Adelman explained that the long-standing doctrine of judicial immunity protects judges from civil lawsuits over their decisions, but has never been recognized as a shield against criminal prosecution. He noted that federal criminal laws at issue apply to “whoever” obstructs or conceals, without carving out a special exemption for judges. The court also found the trial evidence strong enough to support the jury’s conclusion that Dugan corruptly interfered with a federal administrative arrest, rather than simply managing her courtroom.[2]
Why This Case Matters for Border Security and the Rule of Law
According to the Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse summary, the Trump Justice Department described the prosecution as a rare but necessary step against a sitting state judge who allegedly tried to derail a lawful federal arrest inside a courthouse.[2] The Department of Justice previously announced that she faced up to five years in prison on the obstruction count and up to one year on the concealment count.[6] By allowing the conviction to stand, the federal court signaled that wearing a robe does not give a free pass to undercut immigration enforcement or protect repeat border violators who also face serious local crime charges.[6]
𝐉𝐔𝐃𝐆𝐄 𝐃𝐔𝐆𝐀𝐍'𝐒 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐕𝐈𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐔𝐏𝐇𝐄𝐋𝐃 — 𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐄 𝐑𝐎𝐁𝐄𝐒 𝐓𝐎 𝐇𝐄𝐋𝐏 𝐀𝐍 𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐆𝐀𝐋 𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐄𝐍 𝐄𝐒𝐂𝐀𝐏𝐄 𝐈𝐂𝐄
On December 18, 2025, Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan was convicted of felony obstruction of justice for helping an… pic.twitter.com/veIzGszWKJ
— M.A. Rothman (@MichaelARothman) June 16, 2026
Wisconsin policy analysts have warned that if Dugan’s immunity theory had been accepted, it would have set a sweeping precedent for activist judges to block federal law enforcement from doing its job in courthouses, especially in immigration cases. The report notes that the obstruction and harboring statutes were written to cover “any person,” including state officials who choose to help illegal immigrants evade arrest. With Adelman’s ruling, that door remains closed: judges are reminded they must follow the law like every other citizen, and they cannot turn their courtrooms into sanctuaries from federal immigration action.
Sources:
[2] Web – Case: United States v. Dugan – Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse
[3] Web – The Judge Dugan Case Is More Complicated Than It Seems | Lawfare
[6] YouTube – Milwaukee Co. Judge Dugan found guilty of obstructing federal agents