Wisconsin judge Hannah Dugan was arrested by the FBI and charged in April amid Trump’s immigration crackdown
A jury has found a Wisconsin judge accused of helping a Mexican immigrant dodge federal authorities guilty of obstruction, in a closely watched case that brought Donald Trump’s anti-immigration agenda into the spotlight.
Federal prosecutors had charged Milwaukee county circuit judge Hannah Dugan with obstruction, a felony and concealing an individual to prevent arrest, a misdemeanor, in April, in an unusual case amid Trump’s immigration crackdown in the US president’s second term.
The jury in Milwaukee deliberated for six hours and then late on Thursday acquitted Dugan on the concealment count but convicted her on the obstruction charge. She now faces up to five years in prison, although a date has not yet been set for her sentencing and she is expected to appeal.
The Trump administration had called Dugan an “activist judge”, while Democrats said the administration was trying to make an example of Dugan as a way of blunting opposition by many judges across the country to the White House’s multi-pronged anti-immigration agenda.
