A Wisconsin judge has pleaded not guilty to charges accusing her of helping an undocumented immigrant in her courtroom avoid arrest by immigration enforcement agents.
Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan was charged last month with concealing an individual to prevent arrest and obstruction. She could face up to six years in prison if convicted on both counts.
Dugan’s lawyer, Steven Biskupic, entered a not guilty plea on her behalf during a brief arraignment in a federal court on Thursday, with a trial date set for July 22.
Immigration authorities allege she escorted Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, a man in the US without documentation, and his lawyer out of her courtroom and through a backdoor as immigration agents sought to arrest him.
The case is the latest to underscore tensions between local officials and a Trump administration pursuing an aggressive crackdown on immigration that civil liberties groups say has tested the limits of executive power.
Dugan left the courtroom on Thursday without comment. A crowd of protesters outside of the court chanted “due process rights” and “keep your hands off our judges” and held signs reading “only fascists arrest judges — drop the charges” and “Department of Justice overreach”.
Supporters of Judge Hannah Dugan protest outside the United States Federal Building and Courthouse in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on Thursday, May 15, 2025 [Todd Richmond/AP Photo]
Immigration raids on sensitive places such as courts have long been a matter of dispute, with immigration rights advocates saying that such raids discourage people in the US without documentation from accessing legal assistance or cooperating in legal matters.
An FBI affidavit says that when an aide informed Dugan that immigration agents appeared to be in the hallway outside her courtroom, she called the situation “absurd” and later confronted them about their warrant.
The Trump administration has consistently stated that it will seek to penalise local officials who do not help facilitate its enforcement push, even saying that legal action could be taken against such officials.
President Donald Trump praised the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi as “beautiful”, as he visited the site with Crown Prince Khaldoon Khalifa. The United Arab Emirates is Trump’s final stop on his tour of the Middle East.
The Nakba. It’s a concept that accompanied me from birth until I lived through it myself these past two years.
I was born a refugee in the Khan Younis camp, known by the city’s residents as the largest gathering of refugees expelled from their lands during the Nakba, when Israel was founded in 1948.
Whenever someone asked me my name, it was always followed by: “Are you a refugee or a citizen?”
‘What is a refugee?’
As a child, I would ask: “What is a refugee?”
I attended a school run by UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, and my documents always had to include proof that I was a refugee.
I received treatment at UNRWA clinics, always needing to bring that refugee card.
I spent a lot of time trying to understand what being a refugee meant. How did my grandparents flee their land in Beit Daras, a village north of the Gaza Strip that no longer exists? How did my grandfather end up in this camp, and why did he choose this place?
Before Israel’s war on Gaza, May 15, or Nakba Day, the day Palestinians commemorate the Nakba, was a unique occasion. Everyone paid attention to it, seeking out people who had lived through it to hear their stories.
When I began working as a journalist in 2015, Nakba Day was one of the events I looked forward to covering. That year, I went along with colleagues to the Shati camp, west of Gaza City.
It would be my first time writing about the Nakba, and my first visit to a refugee camp in 13 years, since we had moved from camp life to village life in al-Fukhari, south of Khan Younis.
When I entered the camp, memories of my childhood in Khan Younis came flooding back: the small, crowded houses, some newly built, others still original structures.
It was nice that the commemoration falls in May, with good weather.
Elderly men and women sat by their doors, just as my grandmother did when I was a child. I used to love sitting with her; she seemed used to open spaces, like her pre-1948 home in Beit Daras.
We sat with elderly women, all over 70. They talked about their homeland, the stability they had in their lands, their simple lives, the food they grew and ate, and the heartbreak of not being able to return.
We met many – from Majdal, Hamama, and al-Jura, all depopulated villages and towns taken over by Israel in 1948. Whenever I met someone from Beit Daras, we’d share memories, and laugh a lot, talking about the maftoul (Palestinian couscous) the town was famous for.
The visit was light-hearted, filled with laughter and nostalgia, despite these people having been forced into camp life after the occupation drove them from their towns in horrific ways.
Ruwaida Amer (right) with a group of her students [Courtesy of Ruwaida Amer]
Displacement
I began to understand those Nakba stories more deeply when my grandfather began to tell me his own story. He became the central character in my Nakba reports every year, until his death in 2021.
He estimated he was about 15 years old at the time. He was already married to my grandmother, and they had a child.
He would describe the scenes as I sat in awe, asking myself: How could the world have stood by silently?
My grandfather told me they had a good life, working their farm, eating from their crops. Each town had a specialty, and they exchanged produce.
Theirs was a simple cuisine, with lots of lentils and bread made from wheat they ground in stone mills. Until that dreadful displacement.
He said the Zionist militias forced them to leave, ordering them to go to nearby Gaza.
My grandfather said he shut the door to his home, took my grandmother and their son – just a few months old – and started walking. Israeli planes hovered overhead, firing at people as if to drive them to move faster.
The baby – my uncle – didn’t survive the journey. My grandfather never wanted to go into the details, he would only say that their son died from the conditions as they fled.
After hours of walking, they reached Khan Younis and, with nowhere else to go, he pitched a tent. Eventually, UNRWA was set up and gave him a home, the one I remember from my childhood. It was so old; I spent years visiting them in that asbestos-roofed house with its aged walls.
That memory of being forced into exile became their wound. Yet, the idea of return, the right to go home, was passed down through generations.
Ruwaida Amer became a journalist, allowing her to document the stories of Palestinians [Courtesy of Ruwaida Amer]
Memories made flesh, blood, and anguish
The Nakba was a memory passed down from the elderly to the young.
But in the war that Israel began waging on Gaza on October 7, 2023, we lived the Nakba.
We were forcibly displaced under threat of weapons and air strikes. We saw our loved ones arrested before our eyes and tortured in prisons. We lived in tents and searched everywhere for basic provisions to save our children.
My grandfather told me they fled under threat of weapons and planes – so did we.
He said they searched for flour, food, and water while trying to protect their children – so are we, right now in the 21st century.
Perhaps in 1948, the media was more primitive. But now, the world watches what’s happening in Gaza in many formats – written, visual, and audio – and yet, nothing has changed.
Never did I imagine I’d live through an existential war – a war that threatens my very presence on my land, just as my grandparents lived through.
The repeated scenes of displacement are so painful. They’re a cycle, one that we have been cursed to live through as Palestinians again and again.
Will history record this as Nakba 2023?
Years from now, will we speak of this Nakba just as we’ve spoken about the original one for 77 years? Will we tell stories, hold commemorations, and hold close memories of the dream of return that has stayed with us since childhood?
Since I realised what it meant to be called a refugee and learned I had a homeland, I’ve been dreaming of returning.
This pain, we can never forget it. I still remember the camp and my life there.
I’ll never forget the moment Israel destroyed my house and made us homeless for two years, 24 years ago.
Now we live our painful days searching for safety, fighting to survive.
We will tell future generations about this war, the war of existence.
We resist hunger, fear, thirst, and pain so we can remain on this land.
Doha, Qatar – India’s Olympic gold medal-winning athlete Neeraj Chopra believes the recent escalations between his country and neighbouring Pakistan will affect the hugely popular friendship he shared with his cross-border counterpart Arshad Nadeem.
Both men’s javelin athletes have earned widespread praise for overlooking the decades-old South Asian rivalry with their friendly interactions at international tournaments, but Chopra said on Thursday that his relationship with Nadeem is unlikely to remain the same.
India and Pakistan were involved in a brief but intense military confrontation last week that threatened to erupt into the fifth full-scale war between the two countries.
“It will not be like it was before [the recent escalations],” Chopra told Al Jazeera when asked about the repercussions of the tensions on his friendship with Nadeem.
“I never had a very deep friendship with him, but we were always respectful towards each other,” he added while speaking before the Doha Diamond League, a World Athletics meet scheduled for Friday in Qatar.
The frequent words of encouragement and appreciation exchanged between Chopra, who won Olympic gold at Tokyo 2021, and Nadeem, who bagged gold at Paris 2024, rendered both the darlings of social media and the face of a rare cross-border friendship.
Happy Birthday to my friend and fellow athlete @Neeraj_chopra1 Wishing you a year filled with happiness, success, better health and joy. May you have a wonderful life ahead!
However, following the April 22 attack that left 26 civilians dead in Pahalgam, in Indian-administered Kashmir, Chopra faced intense social media backlash for inviting Nadeem to the May 24 Neeraj Chopra Classic javelin event in India.
The invitation was extended before the attack and was declined by Nadeem, citing his preparations for the May 27-31 Asian Athletics Championship in South Korea.
Chopra’s eponymous event was eventually postponed in the wake of the cross-border conflict, but not before the 27-year-old Indian athlete released a statement on April 25, saying Nadeem’s participation at the meet was “completely out of the question” following the Pahalgam attack.
pic.twitter.com/yMsX8ggnLA
On May 7, India launched multiple missile attacks on Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, and the Pakistani military claimed to have shot down multiple Indian air force planes.
Three days later, Pakistan retaliated with a missile attack on Indian airbases. Both countries were on the precipice of war before a United States-brokered ceasefire was agreed.
Amid the war-like scenario, both Chopra and Nadeem took to social media to pledge their support for their respective armed forces.
It was in stark contrast to the warmth shared by the world’s top javelin throwers, who often posed together for photographs at athletics events and shared greetings on social media.
Chopra and Nadeem were gold and silver medallists at the World Athletics Championships in 2023 and celebrated together as the Indian asked his Pakistani opponent to join him for a photo and stood close with their arms around each other.
When Nadeem became the first Pakistani track and field athlete to win a gold medal at the Paris Olympics, Chopra’s mother won hearts across the border when she said Nadeem was also like a “son” to her.
It is unclear when the athletes will compete against each other, as Nadeem is not participating at the Doha Diamond League and Chopra is set to skip the Asian Athletics Championships in South Korea.
Despite the fallout of the recent political and military standoff, Chopra said he will continue to maintain a respectful demeanour towards Nadeem.
“I have a lot of friends in the athletics circuit since javelin throwers are a very small community,” Chopra said.
“I will always reciprocate the respect I receive from my fellow athletes.”
Nadeem, left, is congratulated on his gold medal and Olympic record performance in the Men’s Javelin Throw Final by silver medal winner Chopra during the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games [File: Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images]
Israeli forces destroyed homes in the occupied West Bank and killed dozens in Gaza as Palestinians marked 77 years since the Nakba. Israel’s ‘brutality’ has displaced 85-year-old Nakba survivor Mohammed once again, but he says this time it’s worse.
