Photo by Ben Slowey
Dugan Support Rally - December 2025
Organizers and supporters rally outside the Milwaukee Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in support of Judge Hannah Dugan (Dec. 15, 2025)
Organizers and community members rallied Monday morning in the freezing cold outside the Federal Courthouse in support of Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan, whose trial started this week amidst national attention. Judge Dugan has been charged with obstruction and concealing an individual from Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) after she let Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, an undocumented immigrant attending a hearing with his public defender, out through the side door of her courtroom upon ICE agents’ arrival last April. Dugan was subsequently arrested and suspended from her position.
Local organizations Voces de la Frontera, the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression and the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin sponsored Monday’s rally, which sent a loud and clear message to President Trump’s administration that Judge Dugan deserves a judiciary free from political pressure, that everyone deserves due process, and that immigrants make our communities great.
Speakers at the rally included Christine Neumann-Ortiz of Voces de la Frontera, Nick Ramos of Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, Louis Davis of SEIU Wisconsin, Vina Xiong of Hmong American Women’s Association, Corinne Rosen of Wisconsin Working Families Party, Alexandra Staubach of Wisconsin Justice Initiative and Rev. Jennifer Nordstrom of First Unitarian Society of Milwaukee.
Blatant Overreach
Many of the speakers noted the Trump administration’s blatant overreach with Dugan’s arrest, affirming that she had been merely following courtroom policy by allowing Flores-Ruiz to have his day in court. Supporters of Judge Dugan held up a massive yellow banner that read “Free Judge Dugan, ICE Out Of Our Courts” among signs that read phrases such as “We Stand With Judge Dugan” and “Stand Up For Democracy” and “Only Fascists Arrest Judges.”
“Judge Dugan’s case represents a fight to preserve our democracy and our rights in a free and independent judiciary,” Louis Davis stated before chanting “One movement, one fight!” with the crowd. He continued, “Trying to intimidate judges for doing their job weakens our democracy and threatens all of our rights and freedoms.”
Xiong highlighted how judges’ courtroom decisions can be the difference between safety and continued harm for survivors of domestic violence and that no one should be afraid of entering a courthouse. “Some Hmong survivors are in the U.S. on visas, and when they experience abuse, harm-doers may threaten to report them to ICE and have them deported as a way to maintain control.”
|
|
“Your struggle is my struggle,” Rosen chanted as she mentioned people being snatched off the streets in Chicago by ICE, as well as the pastor who was shot in the head with a pepperball from a rooftop by an ICE agent while peacefully protesting. Rosen asked the crowd if they would let Trump and ICE intimidate them, which they responded to with a resounding “No!”.
Staubach emphasized the legal implications of Judge Dugan’s arrest, firmly noting that prosecutions are discretionary before she invigorated the crowd by exclaiming, “We don’t mourn, we organize!". Rev. Nordstrom concluded the rally by leading the crowd in interfaith prayer for justice for Judge Dugan, for democracy, and for love to prevail. Following the rally, a designated delegation from the coalition entered the courthouse to observe the proceedings.
