Washington DC - FBI Director Kash Patel said Friday a US judge was arrested for helping an undocumented migrant evade federal agents, escalating a growing struggle between the White House and courts over President Donald Trump's hardline deportation policies.

Hannah Dugan, a Milwaukee County circuit judge, allegedly "intentionally misdirected federal agents away from the subject" whom they were intending to detain at her courthouse, Patel said in a post on X, which he later deleted.

"The FBI arrested Judge Hannah Dugan out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin on charges of obstruction – after evidence of Judge Dugan obstructing an immigration arrest operation last week," Patel said in his post.

The migrant was arrested shortly afterwards.

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"Thankfully, our agents chased down the perp on foot, and he's been in custody since, but the Judge's obstruction created increased danger to the public," Patel said.

The Trump-appointed FBI director deleted his post minutes after it appeared, and Dugan's status remained unclear.

A number of federal and state judges across the US have issued rulings that put several of Trump's executive actions on hold, particularly related to his bid to exercise unprecedented powers in deporting migrants.

The Trump administration has been butting heads with federal judges, rights groups, and Democrats who say he has trampled or ignored constitutionally enshrined rights in rushing to deport migrants, sometimes without the right to a hearing.

On Thursday, a former county magistrate judge in New Mexico and his wife were taken into custody after federal agents raided their Las Cruces home over their harboring of an alleged undocumented migrant who is believed to be a member of Venezuela's Tren de Aragua gang, US media reported.

Patel reposted his initial message about Dugan's arrest, with Attorney General Pam Bondi defending the arrest of Dugan in an X post of her own.

"I can confirm that our @FBI agents just arrested Hannah Dugan – a county judge in Milwaukee – for allegedly helping an illegal alien avoid an arrest by @ICEgov," Bondi wrote. "No one is above the law."

Charging documents described an incident at Dugan's courthouse last Friday during which the judge was "visibly upset and had a confrontational, angry demeanor" when federal agents came to arrest the migrant, Eduardo Flores-Ruiz from Mexico, who was facing misdemeanor charges.

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The complaint alleges Dugan escorted Flores-Ruiz out of the courtroom through a door used by jury members in order to keep him from the agents.

Dugan, who was elected to the bench in 2016, appeared in court Friday before a judge in the federal courthouse in downtown Milwaukee, where she made no public comments, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

According to the paper, her attorney Craig Mastantuono told the court: "Judge Dugan wholeheartedly regrets and protests her arrest. It was not made in the interest of public safety."

House Democrat Darren Soto blasted the Dugan arrest as "third world country dictator type of stuff."

"Everyday they get more desperate," he posted on X. "This will be bounced out of court as quick as the rest of their illegal actions."