The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Friday said it removed the Mexican national that indicted Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan allegedly helped evade arrest.
“Eduardo Flores-Ruiz has been DEPORTED,” the department wrote on social platform X. “Judge Hannah Dugan’s actions to obstruct this violent criminal’s arrest take ‘activist judge’ to a whole new meaning.”
“Thanks to the brave men and women of [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] law enforcement, this criminal is OUT of our country,” the officials added.
Flores-Ruiz, 31, pleaded guilty earlier this year to illegally reentering the U.S. after being arrested in Arizona by Border Patrol in 2013. At the time, he was deported back to Mexico.
When reached for comment, DHS confirmed the man was deported again on Thursday but did not disclose if he was sent to Mexico or another country.
In the press release, DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said Flores-Ruiz had a “laundry list” of violent criminal charges — including “strangulation and suffocation, battery and domestic abuse.”
“If you are here illegally and break the law, we will hunt you down, arrest you, and remove you from our country,” she added later. “That’s a promise.”
Flores-Ruiz reentered the U.S. just days after his first deportation and reached Milwaukee, The Associated Press reported. He worked in the restaurant industry for almost 12 years.
Following an alleged fight with his roommate, the migrant was charged with three counts of misdemeanor battery. During his hearing before Dugan on April 18, federal immigration enforcement officers planned to arrest him, according to the AP. The judge reportedly led him through a courtroom door and outside before he was chased and detained.
Days later, Dugan was arrested by the FBI and later indicted in connection with the incident. She was charged with obstructing a proceeding and concealing an individual to prevent their arrest. Following her arraignment where she pleaded not guilty, she was released from custody.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court temporarily suspended Dugan after her initial arrest, writing that “it is in the public interest that she be temporarily relieved of her official duties.”
In her defense of Dugan in April, Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) slammed the Trump administration and called her arrest a “gravely serious and drastic move.”
“Make no mistake, we do not have kings in this country and we are a democracy governed by laws that everyone must abide by,” Baldwin said. “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.”
Dugan’s trial is scheduled to begin on Dec. 15.