Milwaukee siblings charged with witness intimidation by calling immigration officials

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- A Milwaukee family has been charged with intimidation after a man and his two sisters allegedly tried to keep a robbery victim from testifying by threatening to call immigration enforcement officers, or ICE. This is the second case of its kind this summer in Milwaukee County.

According to a criminal complaint, James Jamall Hughes, on July 21, 2025, told his sisters to call ICE on the victim who was testifying against him in an armed robbery case. That case dates back to 8:55 a.m. on Oct. 14, 2023, when a criminal complaint details Hughes getting into the driver's seat of a car that a woman, identified then as JTC, was sitting in near S. Muskego Avenue.

She told investigators she was sitting in her Ford Edge while her boyfriend went into the gas station. As he left the car running with the parking brake engaged, she said Hughes, from the driver's seat, pointed a gun at her, stating something "she did not understand because she does not speak English" but "understood enough of what was said" to get out of the vehicle.

She testified against him on July 21, 2025. The same day she testified, Hughes made calls from jail to his sister, Jassmine Mulbah. CBS 58 received the transcripts, indicating that Hughes said, "The immigrants, they immigrants, bro. And ICE is supposed to be here to come get their [expetive]." Mulbah responded, saying she and her sister, Betina Hughes, had been on the phone with them all day. Hughes then gave Mulbah the victim's phone number, to see if “a Mexican answered." Once they did, Mulbah hung up and sent a message with the date and the word "ICE."

Hughes reportedly later instructed his sister to call immigration enforcement. She asked, "Call ICE and do what?" To which he responded, "Let them know they an immigrant."

The victim told investigators that a woman was recording her as she was testifying and was later followed into the bathroom. She was "nervous and uneasy... because she believed the actions of the females were threatening and an attempt to scare her."

The sisters also reportedly yelled at the victim's husband, who was with their child, taking his picture and yelling that she was going to call ICE to get them. 

When investigators asked Mulbah why she did this, she said she was told by her brother to call ICE on the victim because "she was illegal and if she called ICE, then the victim could not come to court."

This is the second intimidation case surrounding immigrants in the past three months in Milwaukee County. In June, Demetric Scott framed Ramon Morales-Reyes, writing a letter threatening to assassinate the President in an effort to prevent him from being able to testify.

Criminal defense attorney Alexis Garuz says this could be a worrisome trend for our community: "I think people are thinking now, well, if I do something to dissuade somebody from reporting, if I call ICE, even if I don't know anything about their status, that that may be something beneficial for my case. So, I think it's concerning overall, and it does not bode well for not only law enforcement, but also prosecution and public safety efforts by the county at large."

CBS 58 reached out to the district attorney's office to see if the victim's immigration status was being investigated. They have not responded. Garuz shared that she knows many people are "by and large, concerned about coming to court, period, when it comes to the ramped-up immigration enforcement that we're seeing and all of the policies that are changing very rapidly." She said, "So, I guess I'm not surprised that you're seeing an element of people, certain people, trying to use that to their advantage." She worries that this could impact Milwaukee County, and the state as a whole, in that non-citizens may be worried about testifying or even reporting a crime to police if they're worried about being intimidated. She recommends anyone with concerns speak with their attorney before going to a courthouse, because there are ways to minimize risks.

"I think that it hurts everyone in the community, and I also think that it certainly unfairly targets individuals that are perceived to be Latino or from some other country, when somebody may have no idea what their immigration status is at all."

The Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office told CBS 58 in a statement that they cannot comment on the Hughes case since it's pending, but said, "Generally speaking, a threat to contact immigration officials is not a new tactic and we combat any provable threat against our witnesses with additional felony intimidation charges." They went on to say that with the "current immigration enforcement landscape, we are working very hard with any and all concerned victims and witnesses to garner cooperation in order to ensure successful prosecutions." 

If convicted, each of the defendants could be fined up to $25,000 and face up to 10 years behind bars.