A federal grand jury indicted a Wisconsin judge on Tuesday for allegedly aiding an illegal immigrant in an attempt to avoid law enforcement.

Authorities arrested Judge Hannah Dugan of the Milwaukee County Circuit Court last month after officials say she tried to help an illegal immigrant evade immigration authorities. Dugan’s indictment charged her with concealing a person from arrest and obstruction of proceedings.

“Judge Hannah C. Dugan has committed herself to the rule of law and the principles of due process for her entire career as a lawyer and a judge,” her lawyers said in a statement, according to The New York Times. “Judge Dugan asserts her innocence and looks forward to being vindicated in court.”

Dugan’s legal team is expected to enter a plea on Thursday, according to the New York Post. The Wisconsin Supreme Court has suspended Dugan from the bench while her case progresses.

Dugan allegedly aided Mexican national Eduardo Flores-Ruiz in his attempts to evade federal authorities.

Law enforcement officials gathered in a hallway outside of Dugan’s courtroom last month waiting for Flores-Ruiz to exit. Dugan confronted the officials while she was “visibly upset and had a confrontational, angry demeanor,” according to the criminal complaint. The judge then led Flores-Ruiz out a different exit from her courtroom instead of the public exit in an attempt to evade law enforcement.

“Despite having been advised of the administrative warrant for the arrest of Flores-Ruiz, Judge Dugan then escorted Flores-Ruiz and his counsel out of the courtroom through the ‘jury door,’ which leads to a nonpublic area of the courthouse,” the indictment says.

The Trump administration has defended Dugan’s arrest as an example of an equal standard of law for all.

“Shame on her,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said last month. “It was a domestic violence case, of all cases, and she was protecting a criminal defendant over victims of crime.”

Speaking from Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, President Donald Trump issued a firm warning to foreign leaders: his priority is defending the United States of America, and he will do so using “overwhelming strength” and “devastating force” if necessary.

“In recent years, far too many American presidents have been afflicted with the notion that it’s our job to look into the souls of foreign leaders and use U.S. policy to dispense justice for their sins,” Trump said during the U.S.-Saudi investment forum in Riyadh. “They loved using our very powerful military. And now it’s really the most powerful it’s ever been … we’re getting the greatest missiles, the greatest weapons.”

Trump emphasized that the United States believes in peace through strength, arguing that “bad things could happen” if the United States was not powerful and in a position to defend itself.

“It is God’s job to sit in judgment, my job to defend America, and to promote the fundamental interests of stability, prosperity, and peace,” he said Tuesday. “That’s what I really want to do.”

Trump also announced plans to lift sanctions on Syria, sharing that he made the decision after he discussed the matter with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

“Syria, they’ve had their share of travesty, war, killing in many years,” he said. “That’s why my administration has already taken the first steps toward restoring normal relations between the United States and Syria for the first time in more than a decade.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet with Syria’s foreign minister in Turkey this week, Trump noted, sharing: “The sanctions were brutal and crippling and served as an important — really an important function — nevertheless, at the time. But now it’s their time to shine.”

He added: “So I say, ‘Good luck, Syria.’ Show us something very special.”

🚨 @POTUS: “After discussing the situation in Syria with the Crown Prince and also with President Erdogan of Turkey… among others in the Middle East, I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria, in order to give them a chance at greatness.” pic.twitter.com/JG3gx3Nn6D

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) May 13, 2025

During his remarks, the president outlined his vision for the future of the Middle East and how he seeks to create a more stable region and peaceful world. He contrasted the path taken by Gulf nations to the path taken by the Iranian regime, offering Iran a different path to a brighter future.

“I am here today not merely to condemn the past choices of Iran’s leaders, but to offer them a new and a better path toward a much more hopeful future,” Trump argued, adding, “As I have shown repeatedly, I am willing to end past conflicts and forge new partnerships for a better and more stable world, even if our differences may be profound.”

The president also praised some Middle Eastern leaders and touted “the transformation that has occurred under the leadership of King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed” in Saudi Arabia, calling it “truly extraordinary.”

According to the White House, Trump secured a $600 billion commitment from Saudi Arabia for investments in the United States, including a defense partnership worth about $142 billion.

“If the responsible nations of this region seize this moment, put aside your differences and focus on the interests that unite you,” the president said, “then all of humanity will soon be amazed at what they will see right here in the geographic center of the world …  and the spiritual heart of its greatest faiths.”