FILE - Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan leaves the federal courthouse after a hearing in Milwaukee on May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Andy Manis, File)

Former Wisconsin Judge Hannah Dugan, who was convicted of felony obstruction for helping a Mexican immigrant evade federal officers in a case that highlighted President Donald Trump's sweeping immigration crackdown, is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday in federal court.

Dugan, 67, faces up to five years in prison after a jury convicted her on Dec. 19. She resigned from her position as a Milwaukee County circuit judge two weeks later amid threats of impeachment from Republican state lawmakers. She had been a judge for nine years.


Trump administration tried to make an example out of Milwaukee judge

The Trump administration brought the case against Dugan as Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents made a strategy of detaining immigrants as they showed up for court hearings across the country. Republicans branded Dugan as an activist judge, while her attorneys said during the trial that the Trump administration was trying to  crush her  in an effort to ensure judicial compliance with its sweeping immigration crackdown.

Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, a fierce Trump loyalist running for Wisconsin governor, urged authorities to  lock her up  in a social media post following her conviction.

Dugan's attorneys declined to comment ahead of the sentencing. Dugan did not testify during her trial, but her attorneys said she would be making comments to the court on Wednesday. That would be her first public comments on the case in more than a year.

Prosecutors push for  serious sentence'

Dugan's attorneys argued that as a judge she was immune from prosecution. U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman, who will hand down the sentence, has rejected attempts by Dugan to vacate her obstruction conviction.

Prosecutors argued in a sentencing memo filed last week that Dugan violated her oath as a judge and put both law enforcement and the public at risk.

 Judges are entrusted with tremendous discretion, but there is a line they ca

#click2houston   #crimewatchhouston