In Milwaukee, a Wisconsin judge is facing charges of obstruction and concealment, accused of assisting a Mexican immigrant in avoiding federal law enforcement. As the trial progresses, Judge Hannah Dugan is preparing to present her defense.

The prosecution concluded its arguments on Wednesday after three days of testimony against Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan. Her defense team announced plans to call four witnesses on Thursday, though it remains uncertain if Judge Dugan herself will testify. The trial could see closing arguments as soon as Thursday afternoon.

This case has garnered significant attention as it highlights the intense consequences of former President Donald Trump’s strict immigration policies. Supporters of Judge Dugan argue that the charges are intended to serve as a deterrent to judicial resistance against immigration enforcement.

Throughout the trial, prosecutors have aimed to demonstrate that Judge Dugan deliberately obstructed a federal immigration task force during their attempt to detain 31-year-old Eduardo Flores-Ruiz at the Milwaukee County Courthouse.

Testimonies from task force members revealed that they identified Flores-Ruiz as an undocumented immigrant following his arrest on battery charges in Milwaukee. He was due to appear before Judge Dugan on April 18. On that day, six agents and officers were positioned outside her courtroom, prepared to take him into custody post-hearing.

They testified that Dugan and another judge, Kristela Cervera, stepped into the hallway wearing their robes. Dugan angrily told four members of the team to report to the chief judge’s office.

As Cervera led them to the office, Dugan went back to her courtroom and led Flores-Ruiz out a private door into the hallway. Prosecutors produced transcripts of audio recordings from microphones in her courtroom that show Dugan told her court reporter that she’d take “the heat” for showing Flores-Ruiz out the private door.

Two agents Dugan missed during her confrontations with the team followed Flores-Ruiz outside and a foot chase through traffic ensued before he was finally arrested. Members of the team testified that Dugan divided them and forced them out of position, leaving them too short-handed to make a safe arrest in the hallway.

Cervera, for her part, testified that she was uncomfortable backing up Dugan during her confrontations with the arrest team. She said she was shocked when she heard Dugan led Flores-Ruiz out a private door, adding that judges shouldn’t help defendants evade arrest. Cervera also testified that Dugan told her three days after the incident that Dugan was “in the doghouse” with the chief judge, Carl Ashley, because she “tried to help that guy.”

Dugan’s attorneys have countered during cross-examinations that Dugan didn’t intend to obstruct the arrest team and was trying to follow a draft courthouse policy from Ashley that called for court employees to refer immigration agents looking to make an arrest in the courthouse to supervisors.

They’ve also argued that the arrest team could have apprehended Flores-Ruiz at any point after he emerged from the courtroom and Dugan shouldn’t be blamed for their decision to wait until he got outside.