NYT columnist calls arrested judge's 'civil disobedience' of protecting illegal migrant 'something heroic'
New York Times columnist David Brooks argued a Wisconsin judge allegedly shielding an illegal immigrant from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents would be both "something illegal" and "something heroic" against the Trump administration.
On Friday, Brooks commented on the news that Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan was arrested and charged with obstruction of an official proceeding after evidence came to light that she had shielded previously deported Mexican national Eduardo Flores-Ruiz from ICE agents after his court hearing.
According to a criminal complaint, Dugan demanded that the officers proceed to the chief judge’s office and – after his hearing ended – escorted Flores-Ruiz and his attorney out a restricted jury door, bypassing the public area where agents were waiting in order to help him avoid arrest.
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Although he didn’t "know the specific details of this case" at the time, Brooks claimed that even if Dugan did "escort this guy out of the door," this could be considered a form of "necessary" civil obedience.
"It strikes me as maybe something illegal, but it also strikes me as something heroic. And in times of trouble, then people are sometimes called to do civil disobedience. And in my view, when people do civil disobedience, they have to pay the price. That's part of the heroism of it, frankly," Brooks said on "PBS Newshour."
He continued, "And so you can both think that she shouldn't have legally done this and that morally protecting somebody against, maybe not even in this case, but in other cases, frankly, a predatory enforcement agency, sometimes, civil disobedience is necessary."
Brooks speculated that there may be similar resistance in the weeks and months ahead and encouraged protesters to resist peacefully.
"That's one of the ways you can shift public opinion, because one of the ways authoritarians lose control is when their opponents protest in a nonviolent way, and the authoritarians crack down violently. That's the way you delegitimize an authoritarian regime. And so that — it may come to that," Brooks said.
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Flores-Ruiz faced three misdemeanor battery charges for allegedly beating up two people when he attended his criminal court hearing with Dugan on April 18. He was arrested after officials said they found probable cause that he was removable under U.S. immigration law, given he was previously deported and never sought or obtained permission to re-enter the country.
When agents identified themselves to him outside the court on April 18, he fled the scene on foot but was arrested after a short chase, according to the criminal complaint.