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Former Wisconsin judge avoids prison time after being convicted of obstructing federal immigration agents

Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan leaves the Milwaukee Federal Courthouse on May 15, 2025 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

(MILWAUKEE) — Hannah Dugan, a former Wisconsin judge who was found guilty of obstructing federal immigration agents, was spared prison time, according to ABC Milwaukee affiliate WISN, which was in the courtroom for the sentencing on Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman said prison was unnecessary and imposed a $5,000 fine, according to WISN.

Dugan, 67, faced a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

Adelman described the former judge as a dedicated public servant who “made a bad decision in the moment.”

“This is a person who has done a lot of good for our community,” Adelman said, according to WISN.

Dugan addressed the court prior to her sentencing, saying that during her nine years as judge, she “strived to do my best to uphold justice,” according to WISN.

“I’ve been cast as both a scofflaw and a hero. I am neither. I am a public servant who was just trying to do my job,” she said, WISN reported.

The defense had asked for time served, arguing in a filing ahead of sentencing that the circumstances of the offense were “isolated and unique” and that Dugan has been a “exemplary member of this community.”

“As a result of her conviction in this case, Hannah Dugan has lost the judicial job she loved and that was the culmination of a career spent serving others,” her defense wrote. “Sentencing need not do worse to her.”

The government had argued for a “meaningful sentence,” stating in a filing prior to sentencing that this was a “serious offense, and it warrants a correspondingly serious sentence.”

“The Court’s sentence should not only reflect the personal consequences to the defendant but also the broader institutional harm caused when a judge obstructs the lawful administration of justice,” the federal prosecutors wrote.

Dugan was accused of obstructing official Department of Homeland Security removal proceedings and knowingly concealing an undocumented man from immigration authorities at a courthouse in April 2025 while serving as a Milwaukee County Circuit judge.

A jury found her guilty of obstructing federal agents and not guilty of concealing an undocumented immigrant from arrest during the courthouse incident following a weeklong trial in December 2025. She resigned the following month.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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Western Europe breaks temperature record in summer plagued by heatwaves and wildfires

By CNN
(CNN) — The first two months of summer in western Europe have been the hottest on record, the European Union’s climate monitor said Monday, as the continent grapples with devastating wildfires and braces for yet another heatwave.The average temperature for June and July was 21.62 degrees Celsius (70.9 Fahrenheit), about 2.79 degrees above the average, and surpassing the previous heat record set in 2022, said the Copernicus climate change service.July was also the hottest month ever logged for the world’s non-polar oceans, Copernicus said, with record high temperatures set along the Atlantic and western Mediterranean, putting sea life and coastal communities at risk. The conditions were partly fueled by the so-called “Super” El Niño weather pattern developing in the pacific.The continent has been hit by a string of deadly heatwaves, with more hot temperatures forecast for this week. Heat has killed more than 25,000 people across Europe this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent but is particularly ill-equipped to withstand heat, due to older infrastructure and a lack of air conditioning.The scorching temperatures and persistent droughts in June and July mutually reinforced each other to create a hot weather spiral, according to Samantha Burgess, strategic lead for climate at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts.“As soils dry out, they lose their ability to provide natural cooling, allowing heat to build more readily,” Burgess said, adding that it was “a clear example of how climate change is intensifying heat extremes.”Surface soil moisture levels across western Europe in July 2026 were also “significantly lower” than in July 2022, the last summer the region saw extreme drought, with “exceptional to record deficits” for rain and soil moisture in France, Spain and parts of Germany and the United Kingdom, the scientists found.The record-breaking summer heat has fostered conditions for Europe’s record-setting wildfires, which have displaced hundreds of thousands of people and burned more than 1.23 million acres of land, mainly in Spain, France and Italy, according to an August 6 report by the EU.Beyond the scorched land, the fires have also had a broader effect across the continent, increasing emissions and disrupting air quality, said Laurence Rouil, director of the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service.“Larger fires produce more smoke and inject it higher into the atmosphere, meaning it can travel further and impact air quality not only locally, but across the wider region,” Rouil said.Severe droughts have also sucked the water from Europe’s major rivers, particularly the Seine, the Rhine and the Danube, threatening the continent’s energy supply.Hungary and Romania were forced to temporarily shut down nuclear reactors cooled by the Danube, Europe’s second-longest river, which has experienced such low water levels that the crisis can be observed from space.Richard Allan, a climate science professor at the University of Reading in England previously told CNN the these record river lows are likely to be broken again in the future and that this “will only be the top of the iceberg.”“Managing water resources will become progressively more challenging.”The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
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