US federal agents arrested Wisconsin judge Hannah Dugan on Friday for allegedly interfering in an immigration arrest that was to take place outside her courtroom, according to local media. FBI Director Kash Patel claimed in a social media post that Dugan “misdirected” Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents waiting to arrest an undocumented immigrant making an appearance in a Milwaukee court, who was later taken into custody. Patel said that “the Judge’s obstruction created increased danger to the public.”

Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) reacted to the arrest by saying:

In the United States, we have a system of checks and balances and separations of power for damn good reasons. The President’s administration arresting a sitting judge is a gravely serious and drastic move, and it threatens to breach those very separations of power. Make no mistake, we do not have kings in this country and we are a Democracy governed by laws that everyone must abide by. By relentlessly attacking the judicial system, flouting court orders, and arresting a sitting judge, this President is putting those basic Democratic values that Wisconsinites hold dear on the line. While details of this exact case remain minimal, this action fits into the deeply concerning pattern of this President’s lawless behavior and undermining courts and Congress’s checks on his power.

Homeland Security agents also took former New Mexico Magistrate Judge Joel Cano into custody yesterday over claims that he harbored members of the gang Tren de Aragua. Cano denied the charges, asserting that the asylum seekers he had hosted obtained paperwork saying they were “not subject to removal.”

The Trump administration has displayed a pattern of hostility to courts. President Donald Trump called for the impeachment of federal Judge James Boasberg after his administration defied Boasberg’s order to return two planes of deportees and stop another one from taking off. Boasberg later found “probable cause” to hold the Trump administration in contempt of court over their actions.

During his 2023 civil fraud trial, Trump was the subject of a gag order directing him not to make disparaging comments about New York Judge Arthur Engoron’s staff. Trump was later fined $5000 for alleging that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer had an affair with one of Engoron’s clerks. Engoron said he and his staff would receive threats after each time Trump violated the order.

The American Bar Association (ABA) previously warned that threats against judges have doubled since 2019.