The Office of Public Affairs in the U.S. Department of Justice falsely claimed a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement administrative warrant is a "lawful arrest warrant", apparently it has its restrictions and it is not legal binding to enter private property or a building without permission to make an arrest.
By H. Nelson Goodson
Hispanic News Network U.S.A.
April 26, 2025
Washington, D.C. - On Friday, the Office of Public Affairs in the U.S. Department of Justice (OPA/USDOJ) falsely claimed in a press release that a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (USICE) administrative warrant is a "lawful arrest warrant", but it's not legal binding to make arrests in private property, inside buildings including county courtrooms, and going into vehicles to arrest an undocumented individual without permission to enter and make an immigration enforcement arrest.
Only a judicial arrest warrant signed by a federal judge can allow for immigration and law enforcement agents to enter private property and buildings to make arrests, seize property and conduct a legal search.
Also, the OPA/USDOJ press release in regards to Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah C. Dugan arrest and charges by feds says, that "instead (she) personally escorted Flores-Ruiz and his attorney through a restricted "jury door" exit not typically used by defendants or attorneys. This doorway led to a non-public hallway through which Flores-Ruiz and his attorney exited her courtroom." However, Judge Dugan's criminal complaint says that a DEA agent who was leaving the Milwaukee County Court Chief Judge Carl Ashley's office and returning to Judge Dugan's courtroom on the sixth floor saw that both Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, 30, and his female Hispanic attorney were in the courthouse public hallway waiting for an elevator. The DEA agent, Flores-Ruiz and his attorney got into the elevator and went downstairs to the South exit, where Flores-Ruiz was then arrested outside of the courthouse after a brief chase.
The following is a copy of the press release from the Office of Public Affairs, U.S. Department of Justice dated April 25, 2025
United States v. Hannah C. Dugan, Eastern District of Wisconsin
The Justice Department today announced the filing of a federal criminal complaint against Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah C. Dugan, 65, for her alleged interference with a federal law enforcement operation and unlawful concealment of an individual subject to arrest.
According to court documents, the charges stem from events occurring on April 18, when members of the Milwaukee office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Enforcement and Removal Operations (ICE ERO), along with federal partners from the FBI, DEA, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, attempted to execute a lawful arrest warrant for Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, a Mexican national previously removed from the United States and recently charged in Milwaukee County with multiple counts of domestic abuse-related battery.
According to court documents, federal agents arrived at the Milwaukee County Courthouse intending to arrest Flores-Ruiz in a public hallway following his court appearance before Judge Dugan. Upon learning of the agents' presence in the hallway, Judge Dugan allegedly confronted and ordered federal agents to leave the courthouse. After being made aware of a valid immigration arrest warrant, Judge Dugan told agents that they needed a judicial warrant and demanded that they go to the Chief Judge's office. Once the agents were no longer in the vicinity of her courtroom, Judge Dugan allegedly elected not to conduct a hearing on Flores-Ruiz's criminal case, despite the fact that victims of his offense were present, and instead personally escorted Flores-Ruiz and his attorney through a restricted "jury door" exit not typically used by defendants or attorneys. This doorway led to a non-public hallway through which Flores-Ruiz and his attorney exited her courtroom. According to the affidavit, Judge Dugan's actions directly resulted in Flores-Ruiz temporarily avoiding federal custody. He was ultimately arrested outside the courthouse, following a brief foot pursuit.
Dugan is charged with obstruction of proceedings before a department or agency of the United States, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and concealing a person to prevent arrest, which carries a maximum penalty of one year in prison.
Flores-Ruiz was previously deported in 2013 and had reentered the United States unlawfully. He was subject to arrest based on an administrative warrant issued by ICE for immigration violations following his recent criminal charges in Milwaukee County.
Currently, Trump and the MAGA (Make Amerikkka Great Again) White House administration including the USDOJ, USICE, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (USDHS) and the U.S. Department of Defense (USDOD) believe they are above the law under the antiquated Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which allows the president to detain and deport citizens of countries the U.S. is at war with, or that actively invading or engaging in predatory incursions against the United States.
By engaging in the Alien Act without probable cause because the U.S. is not at war with any country, the U.S. is not being invaded by predatory incursions against our country, so why is the Trump administration and USICE and USDHS allowed to illegally and unconstitionally abduct (kidnap) foreign individuals with legal status and non-legal status that have no criminal record and then have them removed from the U.S. without any due process by the USDHS and now the USDOD, according to Trump.
The arrest of Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Dugan in Wisconsin by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents on Friday, April 25, 2025 for refusing to comply with a USICE administrative warrant and was frivolously charged with obstruction of immigration agents (enforcing an alleged fake USICE agent signed warrant inside the courthouse) and concealing an undocumented individual to evade arrest at the Milwaukee County Court House is ludicrous.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi came out saying that no one is above the law, and threatened to go after other judges who don't comply with USICE administrative warrants and allegedly commit obstruction would be arrested as well. It seems that Bondi is practicing double standards, because if no one is above the law, then why isn't she enforcing the rule of law, the U.S. Constitution and making sure that all of the individuals being arrested by USICE and other federal agents during immigration enforcement are afforded due process as required under the law? Because, she is part of the widespread corruption, MAGA lying propaganda and lawlessness in the federal government that Trump and his White House administration are engaging in today, and inadvertently have declared war against the judicial branch for ruling in multiple lawsuits that most of the Trump Executive Orders including Musk's DOGE mass firing of federal workers, and cutting funds to federal programs already funded by the U.S. Congress are unlawful and unconstitutional under totalitarian rule.
Editor's note:
USICE administrative warrants are not legal binding, it has its limitations and restrictions under federal law and shouldn't be accepted and complied with at State/ County courthouses and other taxpayer owned property locations.
