From the LATimes comes the sort of story you're sure, absolutely sure, couldn't still be happening in the twenty-first century -- until you see that it just happened last Friday.
A woman moves out of her home into a domestic violence shelter (ever seen one? they're not palatial) and goes to court to get a restraining order against her husband. The judge finds out that she's in the country illegally and threatens her with immediate deportation unless she drops her case. He said he thought the couple "obviously wanted to get back together" and that he was trying to avoid granting a restraining order that would keep them apart for at least a year. Yeah, cuz when I want to get back together with someone, what I do is I move out of my home into a domestic violence shelter and then seek a restraining order. WTF?? And, its bullshit anyway because if the couple had reconciled -- say by attending marraige counseling that the judge could have exempted from the order -- then they could have sought to have the order rescinded. It gets worse.
I'm going to count to 20, and if you people have left this courtroom and disappeared, she isn't going to Mexico forthwith," Fink said, according to the court transcript. "One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. When I get to 20, she gets arrested and goes to Mexico."
After Gonzalez left the courtroom, Fink asked Salgado if he wanted to stay, and he said yes.
Fink then dismissed the case: "Well, she brought the proceedings, and if she's not here to go forward, I guess all of the requests are denied."
On Wednesday, Fink, who has been a family law attorney for 35 years, insisted he was seeking what he thought was an agreeable solution for both parties.
"What I saw was nothing more than some yelling and screaming between a husband and wife," he said.
"I also saw that they really didn't want to not be together anymore."
If he had issued the restraining order, Fink said, "we'd wind up with exactly the opposite of what these people wanted."
"The cure could be far worse than the illness," he said.
So the woman's moved out and wants a restraining order, but the judge can somehow tell that "no" doesn't really mean "no" and he makes her run out of the courtroom to his counting so he can dismiss her case since, "she's not here."
A spokesman for the court assured reporters that, the woman "was welcome to refile for a restraining order." Yeah. I'm sure she's in a big fucking hurry to line up child care, take another day off work, fill out a bunch of new forms, and get humiliated and threatened with deportation again.
5 comments:
Waddayawannabet de judge thinks of himself as some kinda wise, humanitarian, humane, righteous dood?
waddafucknozzle!!!
Once again the appauling attitude that illegal immagrants should not be protected by the law rears its ugly head.
It's not just in the states either, in the UK the slightest of an immagrant trying to claim legal aid whether they are here legaly or not is met with howls of derission and fairy stories from the tabloid press.
Its really quite sickening
Yeah, I was in a somewhat similar situation, in a small claims case against an exBF over car damage. The Judge said "you lovebirds just need to get back together". Yeah, right.
That was in 1976!
WTF???!!!!!! Is someone kidding me? Battered women, citizen, non citizens and yes illegal immigrants are entitled to all the same protections under the law, It's called the VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN ACT, your honor, try reading about it. Ugh, I'm steaming mad right now. This poor woman is NEVER going to seek help again and will now remain in an abusive and potential life threatening situation. Did this happen in Criminal, Family or Supreme court? I cannot believe this Judge is behaving this way. I'd find out who the administrative Judge is and get on the blower IMMEDIATELY! I can only hope that there was a domestic violence advocate around that met up with this woman outsie of that courtoom.
He probably beats his own wife and kids!
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