Chief Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Carl Ashley said he and his colleagues are “all concerned” about the arrest of Judge Hannah Dugan.
Dugan, 65, was charged April 25 with one felony and one misdemeanor linked to allegations that she tried to help an undocumented immigrant avoid arrest after he appeared in her courtroom. Dugan was led out of the courthouse in handcuffs.
“We’re all concerned about how it transpired,” Ashley said following a Wisconsin Policy Forum event April 28 at Potawatomi Casino Hotel. “That’s not a comfortable situation for any person to have an experience like that.”
He also questioned “whether that process was necessary or not.”
In early April, Ashley signaled that he and other system partners would draft a policy to address concerns about safe access to the county’s courthouse following two ICE arrests in March and April.
Ashley told the Journal Sentinel on April 8 that the policy would be “consistent with the law and consistent with allowing people access.”
Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan
On April 24, the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution formally calling on county officials to ensure access to services at the Milwaukee County Courthouse complex and safeguard individuals’ right to due process. The move would also push for educational materials about immigrants’ rights to be displayed in the courthouse.
Ashley said April 28 that he could not comment on the specifics of the case against Dugan, adding that he “didn’t know exactly what occurred.”
He also said that the policy about ICE access to the courthouse was still in draft form.
“Obviously, we always want to make sure people feel comfortable going to the courthouse,” Ashley said.
According to the criminal complaint against her, Dugan told an ICE officer that he needed a judicial warrant after learning they had only an administrative warrant.
But Ashley on Monday said “we have our limitations on what we can do.”
“We also want to support our community,” Ashley said. “The reality is, for my colleagues, we don’t have control in the public hallways.”
He said that an administrative warrant can be used to make arrests in a public hallway, but added that “a judicial warrant has more authority in going into private areas.”
More: ICE officers use different types of warrants. Here’s why that matters.
Ashley said he and others are still working to draft a policy that can strike a balance and hopes to have it completed soon.
“We’re trying to work out a process where there can be respect for the courtroom, and what we’re doing, but allow the immigration and customs enforcement to do what they need to do as well,” he said. “We just want to stay in our lane. And we want to be transparent with the community about what we can do, and what we can’t.”
On the morning April 28, County Executive David Crowley sent out an email to all county employees, addressing the arrest of Dugan.
“Like every person in our country, Judge Dugan is entitled to her constitutional right to due process,” Crowley wrote. “However, it is clear that fear and hostility is being spread across our community to erode the public faith in our judicial process.”
In the email, Crowley flagged that the courthouse is a public building and that he will continue “active conversations” with law enforcement and the courts to ensure the courthouse is a “safe, community-serving space for all.”
“We have an obligation to administer our courts in a safe, efficient manner that delivers due process for every single person,” he said.
And it does not stop at the courthouse.
When asked by the Journal Sentinel whether Crowley has concerns about ICE operations in other county-run facilities, he said: “Oh, absolutely … This became national news fairly quickly.”
Crowley added: “I don’t think that this just affects us here in Milwaukee. I think this affects many people across this entire country.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Chief judge says ‘we’re all concerned’ about Hannah Dugan arrest