(The Lion) — The Milwaukee judge indicted by a grand jury for attempting to help an illegal immigrant escape ICE custody has set up a private defense fund to pay her legal costs.

The illegal immigrant was appearing before the judge on domestic violence charges.

Unlike many high-profile cases that use crowdsourcing to pay for defense costs, this defense fund is not on a well-known platform such as GiveSendGo or GoFundMe. Instead, the fund is being managed by a private trustee on a website dedicated to the judge’s defense fundraising efforts.

That means while the trustee can better oversee the donors, the general public won’t know who the actual donors are and how much has been raised until next year when Judge Hannah Dugan is required to file a Statement of Economic Interest in April 2026.

The judge’s website said they will be reporting any donations of more than $50 made to the fund.

The donations are being managed by Marquette law professor Janine P. Geske, the retired director of the university’s left-wing Center for Restorative Justice.

The fund says it will not allow donations from registered lobbyists, Milwaukee residents or members of the city’s bar, or any other entities that might appear before Milwaukee courts.

Still, it’s unclear how that will be enforced against straw donations that could be bundled by a bigger organization such as Act Blue, the Democrat fundraising standby.

Dugan faces charges of obstructing a federal proceeding and concealing an individual to evade arrest.

The charges stem from an incident involving Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, a Mexican citizen deported in 2013 who was charged with domestic abuse in Milwaukee and appeared before the judge.

In an affidavit backing the criminal complaint against Dugan, a federal agent alleged that on April 18, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, armed with a warrant, planned to arrest Flores-Ruiz at the Milwaukee County Courthouse after his hearing in front of Judge Dugan.

After learning of ICE’s presence, Dugan confronted the arrest team and directed them to the chief judge’s office as a way to distract the agents. She then allegedly escorted Flores-Ruiz and his attorney through a non-public door in the jury room, allowing them to escape the ICE agents.

Flores-Ruiz fled the courthouse but was captured by ICE agents after a foot chase.

Witnesses, including court staff and attorneys, “uniformly reported that Judge Dugan was visibly upset and had a confrontational, angry demeanor” when confronting the immigration agents.

In addition to helping an illegal immigrant escape, critics argue Dugan neglected her duty “to hear the serious criminal charges against” Flores-Ruiz in the domestic violence case.

Dugan will likely need a big defense war chest.

The judge has hired six high-profile – and expensive – lawyers for her defense team, including a former assistant U.S. Attorney, Steven Biskupic; former Bush Solicitor General Paul D. Clement, who also served as Acting Attorney General; and Dean A. Strang, a noted criminal defense attorney.

The Associated Press called the legal team “high-powered lawyers.”

Geske, Strang and another member of the Wisconsin bar argue in an op-ed at WisPolitics that after the arrest of Dugan “access to counsel is fundamental to the rule of law,” which seemed to be a special plea to provide free legal services for illegal immigrants, such as Flores-Ruiz.

Under U.S. law, illegal immigrants are afforded the right to counsel, but the government isn’t required to pay for it.

Certainly, Dugan isn’t suffering from a shortage of lawyers.

“The ‘Rule of Law’,” the legal trio write in the blog, “embodies accountability, ensuring all individuals and institutions are subject to and answerable under the law; just laws, applied evenly and fairly, protected by procedural and constitutional rights; and accessible and impartial justice delivered in a timely manner by skilled, ethical, adequately financed, and independent legal professionals.”

Ironically enough, Dugan’s legal team oddly contends she’s “immune” from the rule of law by virtue of her position as a Milwaukee County circuit judge. They make the claim the judge was simply carrying out official duties in attempting to help the illegal immigrant escape.

In a motion filed last week asking the court to dismiss the case, Dugan’s lawyers said “the government cannot prosecute Judge Dugan because she is entitled to judicial immunity for her official acts. Immunity is not a defense to the prosecution to be determined later by a jury or court; it is an absolute bar to the prosecution at the outset.”