An immigrant previously arrested after a Wisconsin judge allegedly assisted him in evading federal agents, and who subsequently served time for illegally reentering the United States, has now been deported, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, as reported by ABC News.
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Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, 31, had been in custody for approximately seven months following his arrest outside the Milwaukee County Courthouse. In September, he entered a guilty plea for illegally reentering the U.S., as part of a plea agreement where he agreed not to contest deportation. In return, prosecutors proposed a sentence equivalent to the time already served.
Last week, U.S. District Judge Pamela Pepper issued the sentence during a hearing in Milwaukee. She cautioned Flores-Ruiz about facing more severe consequences should he return illegally in the future.
“I truly hope you can find a sustainable livelihood back in your home country, rather than attempting to return here,” Judge Pepper advised Flores-Ruiz.
Martin Pruhs, who represents Flores-Ruiz, stated in an email to The Associated Press that his client was being held at Dodge County Jail in Juneau, Wisconsin, pending deportation “in the near future.” Pruhs did not provide additional comments.
The Department of Homeland Security confirmed to ABC News that Flores-Ruiz was deported on Thursday.
Speaking through a translator during the sentencing hearing last week, Flores-Ruiz apologized for entering the United States, said he was grateful that he had a chance to work in the country and promised never to return.
Flores-Ruiz is at the center of allegations that could send Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan to prison. Prosecutors allege Dugan helped Flores-Ruiz evade immigration agents looking to apprehend him as he appeared for a hearing on unrelated state charges in her courtroom in April.
Dugan’s ensuing indictment on obstruction and concealment charges has intensified the clash between President Donald Trump and his administration and local authorities over the Republican’s sweeping immigration crackdown. Democrats have accused the Trump administration of trying to make an example of Dugan to blunt judicial opposition to the crackdown.
Flores-Ruiz grew up near Michoacan, Mexico, and worked as a fisherman and frog catcher with his father, according to a pre-sentencing memo. Frog legs are a delicacy in the region, according to the memo.
He decided to make a better life for himself and crossed into the U.S. from Nogales, Mexico, in 2013 at age 18. The group of migrants he had joined was apprehended and deported immediately after crossing the border.
A few days later, he reentered the country and got lost in the Arizona desert for a month before finding a ride to Milwaukee to join relatives there. He spent about 12 years working at a series of restaurants and food trucks.
State prosecutors charged him in March with three counts of misdemeanor battery after he allegedly got into a fight with his roommate. U.S. immigration agents learned he was in the country illegally after the Milwaukee County Jail submitted his fingerprints to federal databases, according to court documents.
Agents traveled to the county courthouse on April 18, planning to arrest Flores-Ruiz when he appeared for a hearing. Dugan was the presiding judge in that case and, according to an FBI affidavit, learned that agents were in the building looking for Flores-Ruiz and showed him out of her courtroom through a door typically used only by deputies, jurors, court staff and in-custody defendants. He made his way outside but agents captured him following a foot chase.
She was arrested at the courthouse a week later and a federal grand jury indicted her in May on charges of obstruction and concealing an individual to prevent arrest. She’s set to stand trial beginning Dec. 15.
Dugan has denied any wrong-doing. Her attorneys have argued that she has the authority conduct her courtroom as she sees fit.
State prosecutors dropped two of the three battery charges against Flores-Ruiz in October after he agreed to plead no contest to the third. He was sentenced to time served in that case as well.
ABC News contributed to this report.
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