Immigrant pleads guilty to being in US illegally after judge allegedly helped him evade agents

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — An immigrant who allegedly evaded federal agents with the help of a Milwaukee County judge pleaded guilty Thursday to being in the U.S. illegally.

Federal prosecutors charged Eduardo Flores-Ruiz in April with reentering the country illegally after being deported. He faces up to two years in prison when he’s sentenced and agreed to be deported whenever he is released, according to a summary of the plea deal he reached with prosecutors.

Online court records did not list a sentencing date. His attorney, Martin J. Pruhs, didn’t immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press on Thursday afternoon seeking comment.

According to court documents, Flores-Ruiz first entered the United States illegally near Nogales, Arizona, in January 2013. He was arrested the next day and deported. He subsequently returned to the U.S. without permission and was charged this past March in Milwaukee with misdemeanor domestic battery.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents learned Flores-Ruiz was in the country after the Milwaukee County jail submitted his fingerprints to federal databases. Agents traveled to the county courthouse on April 18, planning to arrest him as he appeared for a hearing in the case.

Judge Hannah Dugan, who was presiding over the battery case, learned that agents were in the building looking for Flores-Ruiz. According to an FBI affidavit, witnesses heard Dugan say something to the effect of “wait, come with me” to Flores-Ruiz and his attorney before showing them out a courtroom door typically used only by deputies, jurors, court staff and in-custody defendants. Flores-Ruiz made his way outside the building, but agents captured him following a foot chase.

The FBI arrested Dugan in April and a federal grand jury indicted her weeks later on charges of obstruction and concealing an individual to prevent arrest. The state Supreme Court suspended her from the bench after her arrest.

Dugan has argued that she was acting in her official capacity as a judge and is therefore immune from prosecution. She’s set to stand trial in December and faces up to six years in prison if convicted on both counts.

Dugan’s arrest and indictment intensified a clash between President Donald Trump’s administration and local authorities over the Republican’s sweeping immigration crackdown. Democrats accused the Trump administration of trying to make an example of Dugan to blunt judicial opposition to the crackdown.

Flores-Ruiz still faces three misdemeanor counts of domestic battery in Milwaukee County. He is set to stand trial in that case on Oct. 13.