On Friday’s PBS News Hour, White House reporter Laura Barron-Lopez, the program’s most biased journalist, did her best to defend the indefensible: Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan, arrested and charged with obstruction after allegedly protecting a migrant from ICE agents, by sending him out a restricted jury door to prevent him being arrested (he had already been deported once but had returned to America). He appeared before Dugan April 18 to face three misdemeanor battery charges.
It sounds unpromising for the defendant, but Barron-Lopez used taxpayer-funded television to mount what defense she could, relying heavily on distractions from the main issue -- the judge’s conduct.
Anchor Amna Nawaz: ….FBI agents arrested Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan on charges of obstructing immigration agents. When officers attempted to arrest Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, a Mexican citizen, last week, the FBI alleges in a criminal complaint that Judge Dugan -- quote -- "escorted Flores-Ruiz and his counsel out of the courtroom through the jury door, which leads to a non-public area of the courthouse."….
Pam Bondi, U.S. Attorney General: I think some of these judges think they are beyond and above the law, and they are not. And we're sending a very strong message today. If you are harboring a fugitive, we don't care who you are.
From there, Barron-Lopez did her best to sow doubt on the judge's behalf.
Laura Barron-Lopez: So, much of the public first found out about this when FBI Director Kash Patel posted on X that the arrest had occurred, accusing the judge of -- quote -- "intentionally misdirecting" federal agents away from Ruiz in her courtroom, although that's not what the official criminal complaint alleges. So the complaint details that members of an ICE task force came to the courthouse last Friday to arrest Flores-Ruiz. That included ICE, FBI, DA agents. And Flores-Ruiz was at the court for a misdemeanor, battery charges tied to domestic abuse, so not for an immigration hearing. And Judge Dugan told agents to talk to the chief judge. She allowed the undocumented immigrant to exit through a jury door.…
Nawaz: Well, you talked to a former FBI special agent about all of this. What did they have to say on this?
Barron-Lopez unleashed the dubious defense: The arrest of the judge really wasn’t about the illegal immigrant, but the signal that arresting a judge sends.
Barron-Lopez: I spoke to former FBI Special Agent Asha Rangappa, and she believed that both charges could be an uphill battle for the Justice Department in court because it's hard to prove corrupt intent. And she questioned whether the Trump administration was not very focused on the merits of the case and more focused on the signal that it could send.
PBS knew what it wanted: Rangappa is an experienced anti-Trump media figure.
Asha Rangappa, Former FBI Special Agent: I think this could be highly embarrassing for the Justice Department if they take this very this kind of case which is a spectacle and then don't prevail in court. And I have to wonder whether this is not so much about the merits of this case, but perhaps to send a message.
As the legal adage goes (paraphrased): If the facts and law aren’t on your side, then pound the table, and Barron-Lopez proceeded to do so, warning of the old familiar “chilling effect” that occurs whenever conservatives do something conservative. [Click "Expand."]
Barron-Lopez: Again, Judge Dugan was arrested on the grounds of a Milwaukee courthouse where she presides, according to the U.S. Marshals Office. And so that kind of spectacle, which is what Asha said, may be sending a chilling effect to others across the legal community.
Nawaz asked her field reporter if similar arrests were expected. Barron-Lopez quoted a defense of the arrest from Trump’s border czar Tom Homan, then returned to the Rangappa defense, evading the actual issue of the judge’s behavior.
Barron-Lopez: ….I also spoke to a former prosecutor, Julius Kim, who has worked alongside as a lawyer, the judge, Dugan, who was arrested. And he said that this type of arrest of a judge is not typical, it's not normal, that he is worried that the process is being politicized and that ultimately, again, that the administration is not necessarily focused on seeing this case all the way through to the end, but is more focused on the larger message that it could send to judges who may act in a similar manner to Judge Dugan.
As for the reaction from Democratic lawmakers and the public in Milwaukee, it's been very swift. And today there were protests outside Judge Dugan's courthouse with chance of people saying, "Free the judge now."
This segment was brought to you in part by Cunard.
A transcript is available, click “Expand.”
PBS News Hour
4/25/25
7:03:17 p.m.
Amna Nawaz: Today, an escalation in the Trump administration's battle with the judiciary and local authorities over the president's deportation agenda. FBI agents arrested Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan on charges of obstructing immigration agents.
When officers attempted to arrest Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, a Mexican citizen, last week, the FBI alleges in a criminal complaint that Judge Dugan — quote — "escorted Flores-Ruiz and his counsel out of the courtroom through the jury door, which leads to a non-public area of the courthouse."
Earlier today, Attorney General Pam Bondi addressed both Judge Dugan's arrest and another recent arrest of a former New Mexico judge charged with hiding and alleged Tren de Aragua gang member.
Pam Bondi, U.S. Attorney General: I think some of these judges think they are beyond and above the law, and they are not. And we're sending a very strong message today. If you are harboring a fugitive, we don't care who you are.
Amna Nawaz: Our White House correspondent, Laura Barron-Lopez, joins me now here for the latest.
Laura, an extraordinary move, as we say, a sort of escalation in the ongoing showdown between the Trump administration and judges who they say are undermining their agenda. Break this down for us.
Laura Barron-Lopez: So, much of the public first found out about this when FBI Director Kash Patel posted on X that the arrest had occurred, accusing the judge of — quote — "intentionally misdirecting" federal agents away from Ruiz in her courtroom, although that's not what the official criminal complaint alleges.
So the complaint details that members of an ICE task force came to the courthouse last Friday to arrest Flores-Ruiz. That included ICE, FBI, DA agents. And Flores-Ruiz was at the court for a misdemeanor, battery charges tied to domestic abuse, so not for an immigration hearing.
And Judge Dugan told agents to talk to the chief judge. She allowed the undocumented immigrant to exit through a jury door. Agents spotted Flores-Ruiz later in the public hallway and at one point a DA agent even rode in the elevator with Flores-Ruiz and with his attorney.
And that's all lay down in the complaint. Ultimately, they apprehended him down the street near the courthouse after he was running away from agents. So, today, though, the judge was arrested on two charges of obstructing a proceeding of federal agents and concealing an individual to prevent discovery and arrest.
Amna Nawaz: Well, you talked to a former FBI special agent about all of this? What did they have to say on this?
Laura Barron-Lopez: I spoke to former FBI Special Agent Asha Rangappa, and she believed that both charges could be an uphill battle for the Justice Department in court because it's hard to prove corrupt intent.
And she questioned whether the Trump administration was not very focused on the merits of the case and more focused on the signal that it could send.
Asha Rangappa, Former FBI Special Agent:
I think this could be highly embarrassing for the Justice Department if they take this very this kind of case which is a spectacle and then don't prevail in court.
And I have to wonder whether this is not so much about the merits of this case, but perhaps to send a message.
Laura Barron-Lopez: Again, Judge Dugan was arrested on the grounds of a Milwaukee courthouse where she presides, according to the U.S. Marshals Office.
And so that kind of spectacle, which is what Asha said, may be sending a chilling effect to others across the legal community.
Amna Nawaz: Now, Laura, you have been reporting on this administration. Officials have been threatening for months to prosecute officials, judges and lawyers and lawmakers, people they accuse of wrongfully aiding undocumented immigrants.
Now that this has happened, what's been the reaction and are more arrests like it expected?
Laura Barron-Lopez: It appears as though more could be expected, Amna, because administration officials are saying this is not the end. President Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, posted today on X — quote — "Nobody should be surprised by the arrest of two judges."
He also said that if you are actively impeding our enforcement efforts, you will be prosecuted. But just as Asha Rangappa, the former special agent, said, I also spoke to a former prosecutor, Julius Kim, who has worked alongside as a lawyer, the judge, Dugan, who was arrested.
And he said that this type of arrest of a judge is not typical, it's not normal, that he is worried that the process is being politicized and that ultimately, again, that the administration is not necessarily focused on seeing this case all the way through to the end, but is more focused on the larger message that it could send to judges who may act in a similar manner to Judge Dugan.
As for the reaction from Democratic lawmakers and the public in Milwaukee, it's been very swift. And today there were protests outside Judge Dugan's courthouse with chance of people saying, "Free the judge now."
