BREAKING: Federal grand jury indicts judge Hannah Dugan on charges of helping illegal immigrant evade ICE

A federal grand jury has indicted Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan, who has been charged with helping an illegal immigrant evade ICE when federal agents showed up to her courtroom earlier last month. 

According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Dugan, 66, was indicted on May 13 after a hearing that lasted throughout the day. She was previously charged with obstructing a federal agency as well as concealing a person to prevent an arrest from taking place. The two-page indictment details the case, and she is facing up to six years in prison as well as a $350,000 fine. 

US District Judge Lynn Adelman will be presiding over Dugan's case as it is carried out. There was a grand jury of 20 people and 12 of them had to vote in favor of indictment to reach the decision, although the total vote was not disclosed, which is common for grand jury proceedings. 

On April 25, the FBI took Dugan into custody, with FBI Director Kash Patel announcing the arrest, "The FBI arrested Judge Hannah Dugan out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin on charges of obstruction - after evidence of Judge Dugan obstructing an immigration arrest operation last week. 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."

Federal authorities were attempting to take Eduardo Flores-Ruiz into custody, who was facing multiple misdemeanor battery charges at the time when he was at Dugan's courthouse. Dugan allegedly helped him as well as his attorney exit the courthouse when ICE agents showed up to arrest Flores-Ruiz.

In the wake of her arrest and charges the Wisconsin Supreme Court gave her a temporary suspension, writing in an order, “In the exercise of that constitutional authority and in order to uphold the public confidence in the court of this state during the pendency of the criminal proceeding against Judge Dugan, we conclude on our own motion that it is the public interest that she be temporarily be relieved of her official duty."

Backlash from the left ensued over the arrest of Dugan, with protests from activists taking place in Wisconsin over the arrest of Dugan. Around 100 activsts and protesters gathered the day after she was taken into custody. The protest took place outside a federal courthouse in Milwaukee.