Eduardo Flores Ruiz, pictured at right walking, comes to court on April 18, 2025, with his attorney Mercedes de la Rosa.
Eduardo Flores-Ruiz (left) talks with his attorney, Imran Kurter, in a Milwaukee court on Sept. 8, 2025.

MILWAUKEE — An undocumented immigrant who was arrested after a Wisconsin judge allegedly helped him avoid arrest has been sentenced to time served in his federal case and will be sent back to Mexico soon, his attorney said.

Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, 31, was sentenced on Nov. 5 in Milwaukee after he agreed to be deported as part of his plea deal on the federal illegal re-entry charge in September. Both the prosecution and defense recommended a time-served sentence, and U.S. District Judge Pamela Pepper agreed.

Sentencing guidelines called for Flores-Ruiz, a Mexican citizen, to serve one to seven months. Flores-Ruiz has been in custody for nearly seven months since his arrest in April.

"You already paid a significant price," Pepper said. "I hope you will make a life back home and not try to come back here."

Pepper said she has seen more aggravated cases and noted that Flores-Ruiz worked various jobs while in the United States without run-ins with the law until recently. She also warned he would face harsher penalties if he returned.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were at the federal courthouse when Flores-Ruiz was sentenced. At the federal sentencing hearing, Flores-Ruiz apologized for coming to the U.S. illegally.

"I promise never to come back to this country," he said through a translator. "I am grateful and happy I was able to work here."

From an avocado-growing rural area of Mexico

Flores-Ruiz entered the United States in 2013 after being deported just weeks earlier. A sentencing memo filed by his attorney, Martin Pruhs, gave more details on Flores-Ruiz's life.

He grew up in a small town in the region of Michoacán, west of Mexico City, known for its lakes, forests, and avocado orchards, according to the memo. Flores-Ruiz's father is a fisherman and frog-catcher. After Flores-Ruiz finished sixth grade, he left school to join his father in frog hunting.

At 18, Flores-Ruiz left his parents and three siblings for what he hoped was a better life in the United States. He illegally crossed into the United States with 30 people. They were quickly detained and deported back, the memo said.

Flores-Ruiz almost immediately tried to re-enter the United States, this time by himself. He got lost in the desert for a month, finally turning up in Tucson. He got a ride to Milwaukee, where a relative lived, the memo said.

In Milwaukee, Flores-Ruiz worked at restaurants as a dishwasher and a cook, sending money back to his family. He recently cooked in food trucks and lived in an apartment on West Vliet Street. He is single with no children.

Then, in March, Flores-Ruiz hit his roommate more than two dozen times in the head and choked him for several seconds, according to a state criminal complaint. Two women tried to intervene and were also hit by Flores-Ruiz.

Flores-Ruiz pleaded "no contest" to one count of misdemeanor battery. He disputed some of the facts in the case, saying roommates were trying to evict him, according to the memo.

Milwaukee judge accused of assisting undocumented immigrant

Federal officials used biometric fingerprint comparisons to see that Flores-Ruiz had been deported from the United States in 2013, and ICE officials obtained an arrest warrant for him on April 17. Flores-Ruiz appeared in Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan's courtroom on April 18 for a status hearing.

Six members of the Milwaukee ICE task force dressed in plain clothes and went to the county courthouse to arrest Flores-Ruiz at about 8 a.m. local time, according to a criminal complaint. They then informed the bailiff in Dugan's courtroom that they were planning the arrest, agreeing to wait until after his court appearance.

Dugan, 66, questioned the arrest warrant and sent the officers to the chief judge's office, video shows. The judge returned to her courtroom and directed Flores-Ruiz and his attorney through a door used by staff. Two agents who were still in the hall followed Flores-Ruiz and eventually arrested him after a short foot chase outside the courthouse.

Dugan was arrested by FBI agents on April 25 and charged with obstructing federal officers. She is set to face trial in the obstruction case in December.

Her arrest sparked protests across Milwaukee, including outside of the federal courthouse, the day of her pretrial conference on April 25. Protests continued over the weekend, with a crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the FBI Field Office in St. Francis on April 28.

Politicians were split along ideological lines, with Republicans talking about removing Dugan from office and Democrats decrying the arrests in the courthouse.

Contributing: Daniel Bice and Vanessa Swales, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; USA TODAY

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Immigrant linked to Hannah Dugan case will be deported to Mexico soon, lawyer says

Reporting by John Diedrich, USA TODAY NETWORK / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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