For context, Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan was arrested on April 25, 2025, and charged with obstruction of an official proceeding after it was revealed that she had protected an illegal immigrant in her jury room to help him evade capture by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. According to press accounts, the immigrant Judge Dugan protected was a Mexican national named Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, who was on trial for three misdemeanor battery charges.
According to Fox News coverage of the incident, the left has had a profoundly hypocritical response to Dugan’s arrest, with Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) quoted as writing on X, “This is not normal. The administration’s arrest of a sitting judge in Wisconsin is a drastic move that threatens the rule of law.” Sen. Klobuchar added that the arrest was a “grave step that undermines our system of checks and balances.”
However, Fox News coverage also confirmed that Sen. Klobuchar’s previous comments about President Donald Trump’s 2019 impeachment trial contradicted her more recent statements about Judge Dugan’s arrest. Regarding President Trump’s impeachment, Sen. Klobuchar was quoted as saying, “In America, no one is above the law, and the American people deserve to hear evidence and witness testimony during a full and fair trial in the Senate.”
In addition, Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) was another leftist politician who spoke out against Dugan’s arrest, reportedly saying, “If Kash Patel and Donald Trump don’t like a judge, they think they can arrest them. This is stunning — we must stand up to this blatant power grab. Republicans: How is this not a red line for you?”
Moreover, Sen. Smith had previously spoken about her vote to remove President Trump from office, saying, “To condone corrupt behavior such as this undermines the core value that we stand for as a nation —that no one is above the law, including and most especially our president.”
Furthermore, Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI) made similar critiques of the White House in the wake of Judge Dugan’s arrest, saying the Trump Administration’s “willingness to weaponize federal law enforcement is shocking and this arrest has all the hallmarks of overreach.”
Rep. Moore continued, pointing to ICE and accusing the agency of going against the Constitution, saying, “I will be following this case closely, and facts will come out. However, I am very alarmed at the increasingly lawless actions of the Trump administration, and in particular ICE, who have been defying courts and acting with disregard for the Constitution.”
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During the hearing that followed Judge Dugan’s arrest on April 25, 2025, her attorney, Craig Mastantuono, reportedly said, “Judge Dugan wholeheartedly regrets and protests her arrest. It was not made in the interest of public safety.”
Watch coverage of Judge Dugan’s arrest:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video