Connect with us

Midwest

Federal case against Milwaukee judge accused of concealing illegal migrant should continue, judge recommends

Published

on

Federal case against Milwaukee judge accused of concealing illegal migrant should continue, judge recommends

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

The case against a Milwaukee County judge accused of shielding an illegal migrant from deportation officers will proceed, a federal magistrate judge recommended on Monday.

Judge Hannah Dugan is accused of knowingly helping the migrant exit a courtroom through a back door, which was not accessible to the public, in order for him to evade ICE authorities and telling the officers in her court that they needed a warrant to make the arrest. 

Dugan had filed a motion in May to dismiss the charges against her, saying she was acting in her official capacity as a judge and therefore is immune to prosecution. She argued that the federal government violated Wisconsin’s sovereignty by disrupting a state courtroom and prosecuting a state judge.

MILWAUKEE JUDGE NOT IMMUNE FROM CHARGES AFTER ALLEGEDLY HELPING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT EVADE ICE, PROSECUTORS SAY

Advertisement

U.S. Magistrate Judge Nancy Joseph on Monday recommended against dropping the charges. The ultimate decision is up to U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman, who can accept the other judge’s recommendation or reject it. 

Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan leaves a federal courthouse after a hearing on May 15, 2025, in Milwaukee. Dugan allegedly helped an illegal migrant evade ICE through a courthouse back door. The case against her will go ahead as planned. (AP Photo/Andy Manis, File)

“A judge’s actions, even when done in her official capacity, does not bar criminal prosecution if the actions were done in violation of the criminal law,” Joseph wrote.

Dugan is charged with obstruction of justice and concealing a person to prevent arrests. She faces up to six years in prison and a $350,000 fine if convicted on both counts. She has already pleaded not guilty. 

Joseph wrote in her recommendation that while judges have immunity from civil lawsuits seeking monetary damages when engaging in judicial acts, that does not apply to criminal charges like those in this case.

Advertisement

Dugan also argued that the prosecution under federal law violated the U.S. Constitution’s separation of powers because it overrides the state of Wisconsin’s ability to administer its courts.

But Joseph said questions about her acting in her official capacity and whether Dugan’s conduct was criminal or within her judicial discretion – must be resolved at trial, not in a motion to dismiss.

The surveillance footage released by Milwaukee County appears to show Dugan, wearing her black robes, confronting ICE agents in the courthouse hallway. (Milwaukee County)

NEW FOOTAGE SHOWS MILWAUKEE JUDGE CONFRONTING ICE BEFORE ALLEGEDLY HELPING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT EXIT

Dugan attorney Steven Biskupic said his team was disappointed in the recommendation and that they would appeal it. “This is only one step in what we expect will be a long journey to preserve the independence and integrity of our courts,” Biskupic said. 

Advertisement

Dugan was arrested by FBI officials in April as federal agents from ICE, FBI, CBP and DEA attempted to arrest illegal immigrant Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, 31, after his scheduled criminal court appearance before Dugan to face three misdemeanor battery charges for allegedly beating up two people.

She demanded that the officers proceed to the chief judge’s office and, after his hearing ended, escorted Flores-Ruiz and his attorney out a restricted jury door, bypassing the public area where agents were waiting, in order to help him avoid arrest, per a criminal complaint.

Officials said they found probable cause that he was removable under U.S. immigration law, given he was previously deported and never sought or obtained permission to re-enter the country. When agents identified themselves to him outside the court on April 18, he fled the scene on foot but was arrested after a short chase, according to the complaint.

Attorney General Pam Bondi previously said Flores-Ruiz had beaten up two people, “a guy and a girl.”

Eduardo Flores-Ruiz and Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan (DHS/Milwaukee Independent via AP)

Advertisement

“[He] beat the guy, hit the guy 30 times, knocked him to the ground, choked him, beat up a woman so badly, they both had to go to the hospital.”

Dugan has worked with legal aid organizations and as executive director of Catholic Charities in the past. She was elected to Branch 31 of the Circuit Court in 2016 and ran unopposed in the 2022 election. She primarily oversees cases in its misdemeanor division, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

CLICK TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Her actions, while controversial, have also attracted an all-star legal defense team to argue in court on her behalf. 

As well as Biskupic, her defense team has tapped former Bush-era solicitor general Paul Clement to represent her.

Advertisement

Judge Hannah Dugan walks into a Milwaukee federal courthouse on May 15, 2025. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Clement, who was also on Trump’s short list of Supreme Court nominees during his first term, is a well-respected litigator who has argued more than 100 cases before the Supreme Court. 

Fox News’ Jake Gibson, Louis Casiano and Greg Wehner as well as The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Read the full article from Here

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Milwaukee, WI

Milwaukee oversight body asks for more police pursuit policy changes

Published

on

Milwaukee oversight body asks for more police pursuit policy changes


play

  • The Fire and Police Commission is mulling a recommendation the Milwaukee Police Department amend its police chase policy and restrict chases for reckless driving.
  • The current recommendation draft calls for a ban on chases for reckless driving after an attempted traffic stop. That will now move to a committee for further changes.
  • The draft recommendation comes after department modified the policy to remove speeding as a sole justification for chases. Prior, speeding was allowed to be considered when evaluating reckless driving

A Milwaukee oversight body is pushing for further restrictions on how the city’s police decide to chase vehicles, but isn’t ready to move those forward yet.

At its March 5 meeting, the city’s Fire and Police Commission mulled a recommendation the Milwaukee Police Department no longer chase drivers for reckless driving after an attempted traffic stop and stop other chases for reckless driving if it raises danger to the public. The department’s pursuit policy has been a point of contention for years and has come under intense scrutiny after nine people died from police chase crashes in 2025.

Advertisement

But that recommendation was tabled and sent to commission committee for further discussion, after concerns it needed to be further tweaked and receive more police department input.

“I’m trying to find incremental changes we can make to reduce chases,” said Commissioner Bree Spencer, who sponsored the recommendation.

Spencer said she was hesitant to push for policy changes that were too sweeping or too permissive. She said that had happened in years past, when pursuits were heavily restricted in 2010 and then later opened up in 2017 in response to reckless driving, following a then-Fire and Police Commission order.

As has become the norm at the commission’s meetings, a lengthy public comment period was held where some were critical of the proposed changes. Some called for dashcam footage of pursuit-related deaths to be released, as policy requires in officer shootings, and for the city’s costs of police chase-related lawsuits to be publicized.

Advertisement

“Police chases do not keep our community safe,” Angela Lang, the co-executive director of Black Leaders Organizing Change, said during public comment.

The Fire and Police Commission’s proposed recommendation comes after the department voluntarily removed speeding as a permissible reason to chase someone who is recklessly driving. However, that move was met coldly by members of the public and the commission, which is the oversight body for the department, who said it didn’t go far enough.

Generally, department policy considers pursuits “justified” under six circumstances, among those being when an occupant is involved in a violent felony.

Milwaukee Assistant Chief Craig Sarnow said the department was content with its previous change, when commissioners asked him for feedback on the proposed recommendation.

Both the Fire and Police Commission’s drafted recommendation and police department’s change focus on reckless driving chases. Those make up an overwhelming amount of all chases that officers in Milwaukee make – with officers citing reckless driving as the initiating reason in 742 of the 970 chases in 2025, according to police data.

Advertisement

The Fire and Police Commission’s recommendation is also the first time the body has exercised that power since state legislation, 2023 Wisconsin Act 12, was passed. Before that legislation was passed, the commission held the ability to outright change police department policy, but the law shifted that to the city’s Common Council.

Some have called for the Fire and Police Commission to more aggressively issue recommendations like these.

The recommendation will now move to the commission’s Oversight and Accountability Committee. The decision was made after commissioners said they sought more time to tweak the language and for police to provide input.

License plate reading camera use scrutinized

The department’s use of license plate reading cameras, a system known as Flock, came under scrutiny from many attendees at the meeting as well, who called for the city to ban it. Many noted the recent criminal charges brought against Josue Ayala, an officer who prosecutors say improperly used the system to track a former partner and another person.

Ayala resigned and is facing a misdemeanor charge of attempted misconduct in public office. Ayala had previously faced claims of lying and excessive force but was not placed on a Milwaukee County District Attorney’s list of officers with a history of dishonesty, bias or integrity concerns until recently.

Advertisement

That was despite, in 2022, a federal public defender issuing a complaint against Ayala, saying he exaggerated so much in his testimony and reports that it almost seemed “like a compulsion.”

Milwaukee police officials like Heather Hough, the department’s chief of staff, said they were never made aware of that previous concern against Ayala.

“Had we received the information from defense counsel about these concerns they would have been investigated,” she said in an email to the Journal Sentinel.

But that goes against the role of the defense bar, outside experts and defense attorneys locally told the Journal Sentinel. Prosecutors have the ethical duty to share potential Brady material and serve the public, whereas defense attorneys’ obligation is to their client.

Milwaukee police began using Flock cameras in 2022. MPD has a $182,900 contract with Flock for the use of the technology. That contract is active through January 2027 and passed without requiring approval from member of the city’s Common Council, a point criticized by attendees.

Advertisement

The scrutiny against Flock came despite it not being on the meeting’s agenda. Attendees held signs that said things like “GET THE FLOCK OUTTA HERE” and called for the city to be “de-Flocked.”

David Clarey is a public safety reporter at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He can be reached at dclarey@gannett.com.



Source link

Continue Reading

Minneapolis, MN

Minneapolis police investigating 3 shootings within 20 minutes

Published

on

Minneapolis police investigating 3 shootings within 20 minutes


Minneapolis police say they are investigating three separate, unrelated shootings that happened within the span of about 20 minutes Thursday night.

Minneapolis police say they are investigating three separate, unrelated shootings that happened within the span of about 20 minutes Thursday night.

Minneapolis shootings

Advertisement

What we know:

Authorities responded to a shooting at about 6:29 p.m. on the 400 block of Taylor Street NE. 

Less than 10 minutes later, police responded to a shooting on the 2000 block of West River Road.

Advertisement

At about 6:46 p.m., police responded to a shooting on the 800 block of Franklin Ave. E.

Police say their preliminary information indicates each shooting had one victim. All injuries appear to be non-life threatening.

Advertisement

Shootings not connected

What we don’t know:

Police say in their investigation, it doesn’t appear that the three shootings are related. Authorities have not made any arrests.

Advertisement

The incidents remain under investigation.

Crime and Public SafetyMinneapolis



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Indianapolis, IN

How to Watch 2026 Indianapolis SX, Talladega GNCC, and MXGP of Argentina Live on TV – Racer X

Published

on

How to Watch 2026 Indianapolis SX, Talladega GNCC, and MXGP of Argentina Live on TV – Racer X


The ninth round of the 2026 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship will take place on Saturday, March 7, as Lucas Oil Stadium hosts the Indianapolis Supercross. This will be the third round of the 250SX East Division championship and will be our second Triple Crown event of the ’26 season.

Check out how to watch the Indianapolis SX below, plus check out the full race day schedule, the entry lists, injury report, track maps, AMA national numbers refresher, live timing link, and anything and everything else you need to know for Indianapolis for Saturday.

What you need to know the most for the Indianapolis SX: the Triple Crown races begin just after 7 p.m. Eastern/4 p.m. Pacific.

On Saturday, qualifying can still be seen on Race Day Live beginning at 1 p.m. EDT/10 a.m. PDT on Peacock. The Race Day Live broadcast will end with the two last chance qualifier races to determine the gate picks for the main program/night show Triple Crown races. 

Advertisement

The SMX Video pass broadcast—which is available only outside of the United States—will start at the same time. Once again, there are Spanish and French broadcasts as a part of the 2026 SMX Video Pass this year, just as they were last year. 

Viewers can also listen to audio from the full night show broadcast each and every weekend of SMX in its entirety on SiriusXM Radio (with Indianapolis also starting at 7 p.m. Eastern/4 p.m. Pacific).

The Progressive Grand National Cross Country (GNCC Racing) Series is back in action this weekend at Talladega Superspeedway in Lincoln, Alabama. The Talladega GNCC will have both Saturday’s pro ATVs (2 p.m. EST/11 a.m. PST) and Sunday’s pro bikes (1 p.m. EST/10 a.m. PST) broadcasted live by the RacerTV crew.

And the FIM Motocross World Championship (MXGP) kicks off this weekend with the MXGP of Argentina on Saturday (qualifying) and Sunday (points-paying motos). You can watch the action live on both days on MXGP-TV.com or catch the delayed broadcast of the second motos on CBS Sports (might want to DVR this with the late night time!).

Advertisement



Source link

Continue Reading

Trending