The Democrat-nominated judge who helped an illegal migrant escape from her Wisconsin courtroom has been given a wet-kiss penalty by a judge who used to be a top Democratic politician in the state.

District Judge Lynn Adelman fined Judge Hannah Dugan just $5,000 as he excused her April 2025 crime: “An otherwise good person, upset by immigration enforcement in this country — a view widely shared — made a bad decision in the moment.”

The slap-on-the-wrist penalty comes amid a wave of murder by illegal migrants, and amid the massive economic dislocation to American families caused by migrants’ willingness to work for very low wages.

The “punishment should fit the offender and not merely the crime,” Adelman, the former Democratic Speaker in the state legislature, told the courtroom.

The judge’s statement also rejects the electoral mandate for immigration enforcement earned by populist President Donald Trump from the citizens of the United States in the 2024 general election.

Dugan — a former advocate for more migration — was unapologetic about the crime, saying: “I have been cast as both a scofflaw and as a hero… I am a public servant who was just trying to do my job,” according to the UrbanMilwaukee.com report. The report added:

Dugan told the court that she intends to return to serving the public and her community. She explained her motivation to serve by quoting President Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, calling for citizens to take action to preserve and further democracy: “It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work.”

“For someone who has dedicated her life to the law, this [trial] amounts to significant punishment regardless of what I do today,” Adelman told Dugan and the court.

Federal officials were pushing for a jail sentence. Dugan’s defense lawyers wanted to limit her jail time to “time served,” or the time she had already spent under arrest.

In response to Adelman’s minor fine, Dugan will appeal her case. “We look forward to presenting the arguments that we think were right all along, and we think that at the end of the day… the appellate process will play out and we will be successful,” said one of her attorneys, Jason Luczak.

Adelman was nominated to the judgeship by President Bill Clinton in 1997.