Judge found guilty of obstructing arrest in Trump immigration crackdown

A Wisconsin judge was found guilty on Thursday of helping a migrant evade a planned immigration arrest outside her courtroom, a U.S. Justice Department official said, a victory for President Donald Trump's administration in its effort to deter interference with its hardline immigration tactics.



Media reports said the federal jury delivered a mixed verdict on Hannah Dugan an elected judge on the Milwaukee County Circuit Court, acquitting her of one of the two charges she faced. She was convicted of obstructing a federal proceeding and cleared of a lesser charge accusing her of concealing a person from arrest, the reports said.



Dugan had pleaded not guilty.



"This Department will not tolerate obstruction, will enforce federal immigration law, and will hold criminals to account - even those who wear robes," Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a social media post.



The unusual case put a judge on trial for actions she took in her courtroom while overseeing cases and reflects tensions over the Trump administration’s use of courthouses to stage arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.



The prosecution stemmed from a directive by the Justice Department ordering prosecutors to pursue cases of alleged obstruction of ICE enforcement by local activists and officials resisting Trump's drive for mass deportations.