Milwaukee is back in the national spotlight this week, following the arrest of Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan last Friday, April 25.
According to the criminal complaint, Dugan is charged with assisting Eduardo Flores-Ruiz avoid arrest from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, at the courthouse the previous week. The complaint says Dugan escorted Flores-Ruiz through the jury door after redirecting ICE agents away from the courtroom.
Dugan was released later that day. Dugan's attorney says she "will defend herself vigorously, and looks forward to being exonerated."
Immediately following the arrest, FBI Director Kash Patel celebrated with a photo of Dugan’s so-called perp walk. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi told Fox News that the arrest was meant to send a message to those resisting President Trump’s agenda of mass deportations.
"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," Bondi says. "Anyone who is illegally in this country, we will come after you and we will prosecute you. We will find you."
In response, some Milwaukeeans are taking the streets.
Multiple protests sprang up on Friday and over the weekend, including one outside FBI headquarters in St. Francis, with an estimated attendance of around 1,000 people. The event was organized by a coalition of activist groups led by Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression.
Julie Velazquez is the outreach chair at the Milwaukee Alliance, and she says the event was organized immediately after the arrest, in part as an attempt to assuage fear of what might come next.
"Hearing that she got arrested did, like, strike a little bit of fear, I would say," Velazquez says. "I was expecting the allegations to just go nowhere and for it to immediately go to not even questioned, but straight up arrested. It's just following the trends that we've seen with like other immigrant issues."
A growing coalition of immigrant rights, labor and anti-war groups
The speaker list at the event represented a coalition of groups ranging from immigrant rights groups, labor organizers, and student activists against the war in Gaza.
Speaking from her role with the Wisconsin Coalition for Justice in Palestine, Janan Najeeb says that one of the unifying factors between these groups was a concern that due process is under threat. The sentiment is that if ICE is arresting immigrants and judges in courtrooms, no place can be considered safe to express dissent.
"The American legal system is built on due process... It is not built on ambushes," Najeeb says. "We refuse to stand silent as the dismantling of our Constitution and our constitutional rights takes place, and we will continue to stand with Judge Duggan and anyone else who is arbitrarily arrested. And we stand for the dignity of our justice system."
Rio Rubio is a first generation immigrant who attended the event. He explains how his immigrant journey to the United States has been hampered by U.S. immigration policy, long before President Trump.
"We tried crossing the border twice. The first time we got picked up. When I was, you know, five years old, I got put into a cell with my father and my mother was separated," Rubio explains. "We were with our brothers and I was with my brother, so, you know, the whole putting kids in cages has been a thing for a long time. Family separation has been a thing for a long time. And it's not just this administration. It has been every single administration that has decided to go after immigrants."
What happens next?
National partisan lines are reflected among Wisconsin state politicians. Democrats have characterized Judge Dugan’s arrest as an escalation of the Trump administration’s actions against the judiciary, following alleged defying court orders against his agenda of mass deportations.
On the other side of the aisle, some state Republicans have floated the idea of removing Judge Dugan from her post. In an interview with FOX6, Rep. Bob Donovan of Greenfield characterized Dugan and Flores-Ruiz’s arrests as a strong message in similar terms as Trump administration officials Pam Bondi and Kash Patel.
"Most citizens expect criminals to be handled as criminals and to be arrested for their crimes and to face the consequences of their actions. How that's done sometimes it's not pretty, but it's got to be done and, you know, a strong message I think needs to be sent," Donovan says.
Outside of partisan chambers, Milwaukee organizers are seeking to keep momentum going throughout this week. On Thursday May 1, a longstanding day of significance in labor history, Voces de la Frontera noted that they will once again be holding its annual “Day Without Immigrants” protest to demonstrate immigrants’ role in the local economy and culture.
On the same day, organizers at UW-Milwaukee are hosting an event at UW-Milwaukee at the site of last year's 14-day student encampment, commemorating the one-year anniversary of campus encampments protesting the war in Gaza.
For people like Rio Rubio — the first generation immigrant at Saturday’s protest — coalitions between advocacy groups are necessary. He said he understands this is a scary time for those on the opposite side of the Trump administration’s message, but believes there is strength in shared struggle.
"I have that fear in me even as I'm out here. I have that fear of what might happen to me or my family. But I'm out here with many people and that fear kind of dissipates when we all share that risk. So if you're afraid, come out, come out to the community, be around people like us. Because I'm sure that fear will go away," Rubio says.
Seemingly, people attending Saturday’s protest agree with Rubio’s analysis.
