Trial begins for Wisconsin judge charged with helping man evade immigration agents

The Associated Press reports that a federal prosecutor earlier today told jurors that a Wisconsin judge said she be convicted for obstruction and concealment of her actions in directing an immigrant to go through a private door out of the state courthouse while immigration officers were there to arrest him.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Keith Alexander offered opening arguments in the trial of Wisconsin state Judge Hannah Dugan.

The noncitizen who Judge Dugan allegedly directed out of the courthouse had been deported after pleading no contest in a battery case and sentenced to time served.

According to the Associated Press, "Democrats say Trump is looking to make an example of Dugan to blunt judicial opposition to immigration arrests. Dugan told police she and her family found threatening flyers at their homes this spring. The administration has branded her an activist judge."

PBS provided this background about Judge Dugan:

"Dugan has been a Milwaukee County Circuit Court judge since her election in 2016. She previously was a litigation attorney and served administrative jobs at Legal Action of Wisconsin, Inc., and Legal Aid Society, Inc.

She also has taught law and graduate students at Marquette University.

Dugan was the president of the Milwaukee Bar Association from 1999-2000 and at one point worked at Catholic Charities of Southeastern Wisconsin, Inc.

She graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1981 with a bachelor of arts degree and earned her Juris Doctorate in 1987 from the school."

One would think that the Trump administration would have better criminal matters to prosecute. The prosecution of a state court judge on these kinds of criminal charges do little to improve immigration enforcement but do contribute much to the climate of fear created by the Trump administration's immigration enforcement operations.