(NewsNation) — The FBI’s arrest of a Wisconsin judge who allegedly helped an undocumented migrant evade immigration authorities is drawing criticism in some quarters as a heavy-handed move by the Trump administration.
Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan reportedly escorted the man and his lawyer out of her courtroom earlier this month after learning agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement were in the building seeking his arrest. He was taken into custody after ICE agents chased him on foot, according to court papers.
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Former Judge Jeffrey Swartz said Dugan “crossed the line” but faulted the feds for the way they came for her this week. Normally, he told “CUOMO” on Friday, authorities would seek an indictment and then obtain a warrant from a judge.
“Instead of going and getting a judge to issue a warrant, they issued an administrative warrant. They did it all on their own because they didn’t want anybody else determining probable cause,” Swartz said.
Their methods were “intended to intimidate other judges,” he said.
Former Acting ICE Director John Sandweg, who joined Schwartz on “CUOMO,” said his former agency could have been less conspicuous in the original incident by positioning themselves outside the courthouse.
“The Trump administration keeps putting them at the tip of the spear on these highly charged cases in a way that’s very difficult, from a reputational perspective, for the agency to ever recover from. I don’t think there are any winners on this particular case,” he said.
The man sought by federal agents, 30-year-old Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, was in Dugan’s court for a hearing after being charged with three counts of misdemeanor domestic battery. He had been in the U.S. since reentering the country after he was deported in 2013, according to court documents.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
