WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Federal agents on Friday arrested a US judge for allegedly shielding an undocumented migrant, escalating a struggle between the White House and courts over President Donald Trump’s hardline deportation policies.
Hannah Dugan, a Milwaukee County circuit judge, allegedly “intentionally misdirected federal agents away from the subject” whom agents were intending to detain at her courthouse, Federal Bureau of Investigation director Kash Patel said in a post on X.
She was arrested on charges of obstruction, Patel said in his post.
“Thankfully our agents chased down the perp on foot and he’s been in custody since, but the Judge’s obstruction created increased danger to the public,” Patel said.
The Trump-appointed director deleted his post minutes after it appeared, but later reposted it.
Later on Friday, Patel wrote “No one is above the law” in another post on X, accompanied with a photo of a handcuffed person being led to an unmarked vehicle with tinted windows. The image is taken from behind, and the only faces in the photo have been blurred out.
“From the bench to the backseat. This is what accountability looks like,” wrote Donald Trump Jr., who shared the post, suggesting the handcuffed person in the photo was Dugan.