Liberal CNN guest makes shock claim about Judge Hannah Dugan arrested by FBI for ‘hiding migrant from ICE’

A CNN crime correspondent admitted the Trump administration ‘has a case’ against  the Milwaukee judge arrested for allegedly hiding a undocumented migrant.

The crime reporter, Katelyn Polantz, was speaking about County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan who has been accused of obstructing the arrest of Eduardo Flores Ruiz, 30, on April 18. 

Appearing on CNN’s The Arena, Polantz said that the arrest of the Dugan was not without precedent, and sided with the government in her analysis. 

She told Kasie Hunt: ‘Well, they have a case, and that case is going to go on in court. She hasn’t entered a plea yet. She was released after her appearance.’

Hunt also cited the 2019 case of Massachusetts Court Judge Shelley Richmond Joseph who was indicted on federal charges of obstruction. 

Judge Joseph and former court officer Wesley MacGregor were accused of helping a twice-deported defendant from leaving a courthouse through a rear door to avoid immigration officials. 

Polantz continued: ‘Those charges were dropped in the Biden administration against that judge in Massachusetts, but she ended up cutting a deal. So it was a legitimate case.’ 

Flores-Ruiz, who is from Mexico, had been charged with battery for allegedly punching someone 30 times in the face after they complained about his loud music. 

When ICE agents showed up to arrest him in court, Dugan, the government claims, hid him.

She was taken into custody Friday at the Milwaukee County Courthouse according to the US Marshals Service.

Dugan appeared briefly in federal court in Milwaukee later Friday before being released from custody. 

She faces charges of ‘concealing an individual to prevent his discovery and arrest’ and obstructing or impeding a proceeding. 

Her attorney Craig Mastantuono said: ‘Judge Dugan wholeheartedly regrets and protests her arrest. It was not made in the interest of public safety.’ 

An affidavit describes Dugan as being ‘visibly angry’ over the arrival of ICE agents at the courthouse and that she described the situation as ‘absurd’. 

She then retreated to her chambers before she directed the arrest team to speak with the chief judge and led them from the courtroom, the affidavit adds. 

Dugan returned to the courtroom and was heard saying words to the effect of ‘wait, come with me,’ before ushering Flores-Ruiz and his lawyer through a jury door into a non-public area of the courthouse.

The action was unusual, the affidavit says, because ‘only deputies, juries, court staff, and in-custody defendants being escorted by deputies used the back jury door. Defense attorneys and defendants who were not in custody never used the jury door.’

Speaking on Fox News on Friday, Attorney General Pam Bondi said that Dugan had ‘put the lives of our law enforcement officers at risk’. 

Dugan has been the Milwaukee County Circuit Judge for nine years after taking office in 2016 and winning re-election in 2022. 

Her arrest comes a day after former Doña Ana County Magistrate Judge Joel Cano and his wife, Nancy Cano, were taken into custody following a raid on their home in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

The couple are facing charges of evidence tampering after they were allegedly caught harboring an illegal immigrant, named as suspected Venezuelan gang member Cristhian Ortega-Lopez, in their home.  

Prosecutors say the alleged Venezuelan gangster had been living with the judge and his family and often posted images with them on his social media.

The Justice Department had previously signaled that it was going to crack down on local officials who thwart federal immigration efforts.