U.S. Magistrate Judge John Primomo made headlines last week for telling new U.S. citizens, “You need to go to another country,” if they didn’t like the fact that President-elect Donald Trump will be taking office in 2017. However, sad news has been reported that something else will also be happening in 2017: Judge Primomo will be retiring.
According to The Washington Post, Judge Primomo sent a one-page letter to the U.S. district judges in Texas and the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans notifying them of his intended retirement in September of 2017.
The letter reportedly did not specifically reference the controversy that erupted as a result of KENS-TV airing portions of his talk in which the judge said, “I can assure you that whether you voted for (Trump) or you did not vote for him, if you are a citizen of the United States, he is your president and he will be your president, and if you do not like that, you need to go to another country.”
Since he made the statement, the judge — who at the time was presiding over the induction of new citizens in San Antonio — became the target of a complaint filed by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the San Antonio Express-News reported. The complaint will be reviewed by a commission run by the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.
The complaint referenced the controversy and requested that Primomo be immediately terminated.
Judge Primomo, who has sworn in at least 100,000 citizens since 1989, reportedly stated that he didn’t vote for Trump but was instead trying to let the crowd understand that the office of the president deserves respect, no matter who occupies it. However, because of the backlash, Primomo was suspended from conducting further naturalization ceremonies.
MALDEF’s southwest regional counsel, Marisa Bono, reportedly said the organization learned about Primomo’s suspension after it had already composed the complaint, but was satisfied with the judges’ quick action on the issue.
“We are very gratified how quickly the court moved to address the community concern and we think this was a fair outcome,” Bono commented, adding that if the reports of what Primomo said were true, “It could undermine public confidence in the courts.”
Primomo said in defense that he was not a Democrat nor a Republican but was “just trying to say something nice and it didn’t turn out that way.”
While Primomo will continue to serve as a federal magistrate and hold pretrial hearings as well as make bond decisions, he plans to retire on Sept. 23 of next year.
This is a travesty, that a man who tells people what really needs to be heard received such criticism. There is no way to know if this controversy is what led to Primomo’s decision to retire, but it is obvious that those who speak out against the liberal agenda are seldom treated fairly.
This guy really should stick around, because he seems to know what he is doing.
(via: Conservative Tribune)
