A Milwaukee judge charged by federal officials for allegedly helping an immigrant avoid arrest previously worked for legal aid organizations and was once president of the Milwaukee Bar Association.

Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan, 65, is accused of obstruction of a U.S. agency and concealing an individual to prevent the arrest of the man, who is in the U.S. without legal permission and was in Dugan’s courtroom for a hearing.

“Judge Dugan wholeheartedly regrets and protests her arrest,” Dugan’s attorney, Craig Mastantuono, told the court when she appeared on her charges just hours after her arrest. “It was not made in the interest of public safety.”

Dugan is accused of helping Eduardo Flores-Ruiz of Mexico avoid arrest at the Milwaukee County Courthouse after he attended a pre-trial conference on three misdemeanor battery counts on April 18, according to a complaint obtained by USA TODAY.

Two federal agents eventually chased down Florez-Ruiz outside the courthouse in downtown Milwaukee.

Here is what you need to know about Judge Dugan.

Who is Judge Hannah Dugan?

Dugan graduated from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1987, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, part of the USA TODAY Network.

She has spent a large amount of her career working for legal aid organizations, helping the poor and vulnerable before becoming the executive director of Catholic Charities. Dugan also has been active in various professional organizations, and referees attorney discipline cases brought by the Office of Lawyer Regulation.

After being the president of the Milwaukee Bar Association, Dugan was elected to Branch 31 of the Circuit Court in 2016, defeating incumbent Paul Rifelj, an appointee of then-Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican. She primarily oversees cases in the misdemeanor division, the Journal-Sentinel said.

Dugan was reelected in 2022 as she ran unopposed. Her judicial term expires in 2028.

Alderman who knows Dugan says she’s ‘model of public service’

Milwaukee Alderman Peter Burgelis said in a statement that Dugan is a former constituent of his and said she has served the community “with integrity, intellect, and an unwavering dedication to constitutional values.”

“She is a model of what public service should look like: fair, principled, and rooted in justice,” he said. “She has always stood on the right side of history, and I believe she will continue to do so.”

He added that she “deserves the same fair and impartial treatment that she has long ensured for others.”

According to the Journal-Sentinel, Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson slammed Dugan’s arrest, calling it “ham-handed,” “haphazard” and being more about “showboating” than about keeping the community safe.

In a statement posted on X, Wisconsin Democratic Gov. Tony Evers also criticized the arrest, saying the Trump administration has used “dangerous rhetoric to attack and attempt to undermine our judiciary at every level, including flat-out disobeying the highest court in the land and threatening to impeach and remove judges who do not rule in their favor.”

Republicans and members of the Trump Administration are defending Dugan’s arrest.

Wisconsin Republican Rep. Tom Tiffany, who is considering a run for governor in 2026, wrote on X: “If you help illegal aliens evade arrest, you will be arrested.”

FBI Director Kash Patel praised the FBI’s Milwaukee office for Dugan’s arrest.

“We believe Judge Dugan intentionally misdirected federal agents away from the subject to be arrested in her courthouse, Eduardo Flores Ruiz, allowing the subject − an illegal alien − to evade arrest,” Patel said on X.

Contributing: Daniel Bice, John Diedrich, Mary Spicuzza, and Vanessa Swales, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Fernando Cervantes Jr. is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach him at [email protected] and follow him on X @fern_cerv_.