Thousands Mobilize to Support Arrested Judge

Email from The Monday AM Quickie 4/28/25

Thousands of protesters turned out in support of Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan this weekend after FBI agents arrested her Friday for allegedly helping an immigrant avoid arrest, according to the Associated Press, Spectrum News 1, and WTMJ-TV.

Protesters marched in front of the FBI’s offices in Milwaukee and St. Francis Friday and Saturday, chanting “Immigrants are here to stay,” telling the Trump administration to respect due process, and demanding prosecutors drop the charges against Dugan. “My Grandfather Fought Nazis – So Shall I,” one protester’s sign read. Another protester told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that he didn’t believe Dugan broke the law, and said “if she did, she did it for a good reason."

The FBI is accusing Dugan of earlier in the week helping a man escape federal agents after she was rightly and visibly infuriated to learn they were lurking outside her courtroom to arrest him. The FBI alleges she escorted the man and his lawyer out of her courtroom through the jury door. Agents then chased him on foot and took him into custody.

FBI agents arrested Dugan on the courthouse grounds Friday morning, and she appeared in federal court in Milwaukee later in the day. According to the complaint, the government is accusing her of obstructing a US agency and concealing an individual to prevent an arrest – felonies that come with a maximum penalty of six years in prison and a $350,000 fine. The FBI director, squirrely far-right extremist Kash Patel, offered his impressive leadership by posting a little remark about Dugan, then deleting it, then posting it again. Dugan was released from custody Friday. A preliminary hearing for her case is set for May 15.