The sentence closes one chapter of a case that turned a Milwaukee courtroom into a national flashpoint over immigration enforcement, judicial power and political pressure.
A former Wisconsin judge will not go to prison for helping a Mexican defendant leave her courtroom while federal immigration agents were waiting to arrest him.
The sentence for former Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan is less severe than the federal guidelines suggested, but it still leaves her with a felony conviction, a $5,000 fine and a case that has become a symbol of the collision between immigration enforcement and the courts.
No prison, but no acquittal
U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman sentenced Dugan on Wednesday, according to The Associated Press, saying prison was not necessary after what he described as a short episode by someone with a long record of public service.
Adelman fined Dugan $5,000 and pointed to the consequences she had already faced: resignation from the bench, a felony conviction, public threats and the loss of a public life she had built over years.
“I think this is a situation where an otherwise good person, upset by immigration policies in this country, made a bad decision in the moment,” Adelman said, according to AP.
Dugan, 67, had been convicted in December of felony obstruction. Jurors acquitted her of a separate misdemeanor count accusing her of concealing an individual to prevent arrest.
The courtroom exit at issue
The case grew out of an April 18, 2025, encounter at the Milwaukee County courthouse. Immigration officers had gone there after learning that Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, 31, was scheduled to appear before Dugan in a state battery case, AP reported.
Federal authorities said Flores-Ruiz, a Mexican immigrant, had illegally reentered the United States. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were waiting near Dugan’s courtroom to arrest him.
According to AP’s account of the case, Dugan confronted the agents outside the courtroom and directed them to the chief judge’s office. She objected that their administrative warrant was not enough to make the arrest in the courthouse setting.
After the agents left the area, Dugan led Flores-Ruiz and his attorney out through a private jury door. Agents later spotted Flores-Ruiz in a corridor, followed him outside and arrested him after a foot chase. He was deported in November.
Prosecutors wanted a serious penalty
The sentence fell well below the federal guideline range described in the presentence report, which called for 15 to 21 months behind bars. The judge was not required to follow that recommendation.
Prosecutors did not ask for a specific sentence, but they argued the offense deserved meaningful punishment. Executive Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Frohling wrote in a sentencing memo that judges have broad discretion but cannot cross the line into disregarding the law.
“This was a serious offense, and it warrants a correspondingly serious sentence,” Frohling wrote, according to AP.
At sentencing, a prosecutor acknowledged Dugan had experienced collateral damage from the case, but said judges are not free to set aside the law because they oppose a policy or tactic.
Dugan said she was doing her job
Dugan’s defense framed the case differently. Her lawyers argued that she had already been punished enough and should receive no jail time beyond the portion of a day she spent in federal custody.
Dugan addressed the court and said her actions were not malicious. She said she was trying to maintain courtroom “decorum and safety,” according to AP.
“I have been cast as both a scofflaw and a hero. I am neither,” Dugan said. “I am a public servant who’s just trying to do my job.”
Her supporters included two Marquette University law professors, AP reported. One of them, Gregory O’Meara, a Jesuit priest, described Dugan as a defender of oppressed people and said he did not believe punishment was needed.
A case loaded with politics
The legal case also became a political fight almost immediately. Dugan’s lawyers argued at trial that President Donald Trump’s administration was trying to “crush” her to force judicial compliance with its immigration-enforcement strategy.
That strategy, as described in the case, included targeting immigrants when they appeared for court hearings. For immigration agents, courthouses can be predictable locations. For judges and court officials, that predictability creates a different problem: people may stop coming to court if they fear arrest at the courthouse door.
Dugan resigned from the Milwaukee County circuit judgeship in January after holding the seat for nine years. Republican state lawmakers had threatened impeachment and labeled her an activist judge.
In her resignation letter, Dugan said the prosecution threatened “the independence of our judiciary,” according to AP. Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, a Trump ally who is running for Wisconsin governor, had urged authorities to “lock her up” after her conviction.
The warning left behind
Adelman’s sentence did not erase the conviction. It also did not settle the larger fight over immigration arrests at courthouses. It did, however, draw a distinction between punishing Dugan and sending her to prison.
The judge noted that Dugan’s conduct did not ultimately prevent ICE agents from arresting Flores-Ruiz. He also called the incident “a few minutes of conduct” in a life otherwise defined by public service, AP reported.
Still, the outcome sends a blunt message to judges: objections to immigration policy do not create a personal veto over federal enforcement actions. That is the line prosecutors wanted emphasized, even without a prison term.
Dugan’s attorney Jason Luczak said after sentencing that they still plan to appeal the conviction. That means the courthouse clash may continue to test where judicial independence ends and criminal obstruction begins.
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