On Friday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Source,” Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI) responded to a question on if Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan should follow the law by stating that “no one is above the law, but I think that the law is immutable in the case of the White House.” And “we had come to some sort of agreement in this country that there were sensitive places where ICE would not operate,” and “jurists ought to be able to have control of their courtroom, and localities should not be pressured into executing and assisting ICE, and I think that’s the bigger question.”
Host Kaitlan Collins asked, “We’ve heard a lot of Democrats criticize the White House over that, say President Trump needs to abide by the law. But doesn’t that apply to everyone here? Shouldn’t Judge Dugan here also be abiding by the law, which she’s accused of not doing?”
Moore responded, “Well, no one is above the law, but I think that the law is immutable in the case of the White House. Again, I want to reassert that we had come to some sort of agreement in this country that there were sensitive places where ICE would not operate, and so sort of — to sort of dice and splice whether or not she should have, could have, would have, ought to have left him out at an outside door, and whether or not that was interference or cooperation, I think those are things that are going to be litigated. But the point is, is that jurists ought to be able to have control of their courtroom, and localities should not be pressured into executing and assisting ICE, and I think that’s the bigger question.”
Later, Collins asked, “[I]f the ICE agents were waiting outside of the courtroom, in a public area, where they had told a bailiff, according to this document, that they were out there and they were waiting for the court hearing to be done, then they were going to execute on that arrest, and the judge finds out about that and interferes with that, if they can prove that she did this, do you believe she committed a crime here?”
Moore answered, “Well, you know what, this is not fair to ask me that question, because she has not had her day in court yet to litigate and to defend herself vigorously, which I think she will do. What you’re asking me to do is…to sort of not go along with what I believe is — because I think that ICE ought to operate and they ought to do it clearly, outside of her — not outside her courtroom, but maybe on the street, where they arrested him on the street was the appropriate place. They should not even have been in the courthouse as far as I’m concerned. And so, to say that they can arrest you in the cafeteria of the hospital, but not in your hospital room, this is slicing and dicing it in such a way where the Justice Department is determined to intimidate the judiciary. And I think that we need to fight back.”
Collins also said in the interview that “President Trump rescinded that order, and now, ICE can go into schools, hospitals, and courthouses if they so choose.”
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