A federal judge in Wisconsin rejected a state jurist’s claims of judicial immunity on Tuesday in a case that is testing the limits of the Trump administration’s ability to bar local officials from interfering with its deportation campaign.
The failed attempt to dismiss the case means that Judge Hannah C. Dugan of the Milwaukee County Circuit Court remains on track to stand trial on federal charges of concealing a person from arrest and obstruction of proceedings.
Judge Lynn Adelman, who was appointed to the Federal District Court by President Bill Clinton and who is presiding over Judge Dugan’s case, said the state judge had not shown that she should be exempted from the prosecution because of her role.
“There is no basis for granting immunity simply because some of the allegations in the indictment describe conduct that could be considered ‘part of a judge’s job,’” Judge Adelman wrote.
Judge Dugan was little-known outside Milwaukee until April, when federal immigration agents showed up outside her courtroom with plans to arrest a man from Mexico who was scheduled to appear before her on domestic abuse charges. That set off a series of events that made Judge Dugan a face of the national immigration debate. Some supporters warned that her arrest amounted to an attack on the judiciary; Justice Department officials said it showed that no one was above the law.
Judge Dugan’s lawyers said in a statement on Tuesday that they were disappointed by the ruling. They added: “We look forward to the trial which will show Judge Dugan did nothing wrong and simply treated this case like any other in front of her courtroom.”
Justice Department officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. A hearing in Judge Dugan’s case is scheduled for next week.
When the federal agents arrived at the county courthouse, they told security officers about their plans to arrest the man, Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, who is from Mexico, on an administrative warrant, according to an
F.B.I. charging document. When Judge Dugan became aware of the federal agents, the charging document said, she became “visibly upset and had a confrontational, angry demeanor.”
According to the criminal complaint, the judge confronted the agents and told them to talk to the chief judge of the courthouse. She then returned to her courtroom and, according to the charging document, directed Mr. Flores-Ruiz through an alternate courtroom exit separate from the public door to the hallway where agents were waiting.
Mr. Flores-Ruiz made it outside the courthouse, the charging document said, where agents arrested him after chasing him on foot. Federal agents said that Mr. Flores-Ruiz was removed from the United States in 2013 and that there was no record of him seeking or receiving permission to return.
Days after Mr. Flores-Ruiz’s arrest, federal agents arrested Judge Dugan and top Justice Department officials weighed in on the case.
“It doesn’t matter what line of work you are in, if you break the law we will follow the facts and we will prosecute you,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said.
More than 150 former state and federal judges
signed a letter to Ms. Bondi calling Judge Dugan’s arrest an attempt to intimidate the judiciary. And when the judge was in court pleading not guilty to the charges after being indicted by a grand jury, protesters gathered outside to urge prosecutors to drop the case.
Judge Dugan has been temporarily removed from the bench by the Wisconsin Supreme Court while the case against her moves forward.
Her arrest marked an escalation of the Trump administration’s warnings that local officials not impede federal efforts to deport millions of undocumented immigrants. Since President Trump returned to office, the Justice Department has sued state and local governments that limit cooperation with immigration agents and has announced investigations of some elected Democrats over their immigration policies.
