FL Judge reporting illegals! "Judge accused of abusing power by reporting immigrant children"

The Miami Herald Online ^ | Posted on Mon, Jan. 19, 2004 | AP

[getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL]

WEST PALM BEACH - (AP) -- A judge is being criticized for openly questioning and often reporting the immigration status of abused, abandoned and neglected children in his courtroom.

Some lawyers call Roger B. Colton's actions disturbing, saying he abuses his power by revealing to law enforcement details disclosed before him.

Colton says he is just doing his duty.

''They're violating the law, and I'm a judge,'' said Colton, whose background included nine years as a special agent with the FBI. ``Don't I have some type of obligation to the system to report it . . . when it's smack-dab right out in front of me?''

[getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL]

This Judge is coming under fire for upholding the law!

I think we need to encourage him to continue fighting the good fight. Here is his information:

FIFTEENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT
PALM BEACH COUNTY COURTHOUSE
205 NORTH DIXIE HIGHWAY
WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA 33401
Main # (561) 355-2431

Judge Roger B. Colton
Judicial Assistant - Marilyn Greathouse
561-355-4156
If I can locate an email address, I will post it.

[SauronOfMordor]

Some lawyers call Roger B. Colton's actions disturbing, saying he abuses his power by revealing to law enforcement details disclosed before him.

Excuse me? Except in certain very limited circumstances, telling data to a judge is a very "public disclosure"

[getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL]

We have some real lunatics on the bench here in FL, so it's nice to hear of one upholding the law once in a while. I love Judge Colton's statement, "Don't I have some type of obligation to the system to report it . . . when it's smack-dab right out in front of me?''

I'm sure his peers are coming down hard on him for this.

[pacpam]

This needs to get out on the radio waves Monday. How anyone would think differently from this judge tells you just how low our respect for the law has plummetted.

[SandRat]

getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL meet MindBender26, MindBender26 meet getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL.

By his own words, he lives in FL has lots of experience in these things and just loves to be a PIA to the LIBS-n-DEMS.

Have fun! Keep us posted on the havoc you cause the LIBS-n-DEMS.

[Waco]

Not reporting them IS(!) MISPRISON of a felony. Maybe the good Judge knows a little about the law, doncha think?

[Redcoat LI]

he deserves an appointment to a circuit court of appeals,or the Supreme Court.
I could see him knocking Ted Kennedys and Chuck Schumers heads together,just like Moe used to do to Larry and Curly when they said something stupid.

[getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL]

I've never been formally introduced, but I've seen mindbender26 around here lots.

I love being a big PIA to the Democrats down here, as well. It's a fun way to pass the time.

Which reminds me...my yard sign for the Troops is looking faded these days. I need to go order a new one.

(my most favorite place in the whole world is AZ)

[getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL]

I think Rush needs to get on this.

Just wondering...Is he or is he not a FReeper?

[getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL]

No kidding!

I haven't been able to find an email address for him. I think the FReepers ought to high-five him on his position.

[GeronL]

OUTRAGE!! How dare he uphold the law!!

[ETERNAL WARMING]

Yep! YOU GO JUDGE! You're a hero!

[windchime]

Fox had a story on Judge Colton this afternoon. Thank you for posting an address so he can be supported in his actions on this issue.

[GeronL]

Just wondering...Is he or is he not a FReeper?

He definitely reads some of the stuff on FR. He mentions it once in a while.

[winker]

Send him over here to TEXAS I'll pin a medal on Him!

[SandRat]

I'll give you an opportunity to really irritate the LIBS whatever organization you work with there Kiwanis, Palm Beach Republicans whatever introduce them to http://www.PocketFlagProject.com and have fun.

[getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL]

I'm surprised the article didn't touch on the fact some of these kids in Juvenile Court - who are illegals in our country - might actually be deported with their whole boatload of family back from whence they came. Aghast! Poverty, quality of life, etc... How dare we do this to babies?

Remember folks - WE aren't doing anything to these kids! Their parents broke the law, and turned their kids into lawbreakers, as well. Maybe the parents should have thought twice about commiting a crime, and dragging the kids into their game.

[getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL]

Thanks for that link!

[RAY]

Go Judge Roger B. Colton!! Keep doing what is right!

[Owen]

This story, and the immigration focused, belong on black activist websites showing them that Democrats are more liberal on this matter and want the door wider open than does Bush. The blacks have more to lose. They will lose their status as the most powerful minority if Hispanics continue to grow.

So even if you want to believe Bush is as liberal on the matter, the place to discuss this is not here. It is on black websites, persuading them that there is no one to vote for in the election at all.

[Indie]

They will lose their status as the most powerful minority if Hispanics continue to grow.

They already have. 12.5 % Hispanic. 12.3 % black.
~US Census 2000.

[Minuteman23]

Ping for comment

[getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL]

I think we need to keep an eye on him. The liberals might try and dismiss him with an early retirement.

DARN...I am still searching for an email address.

Anyone know if there is an "illegal" Ping list???

[Owen]

>
They will lose their status as the most powerful minority if Hispanics continue to grow.

They already have. 12.5 % Hispanic. 12.3 % black.
~US Census 2000.
>

You are correct about the numbers, sir, but the phrase was "most powerful" and it is generally accecpted that blacks have the accumulated infrastructure edge.

The point being, the immigration focused are talking to the wrong people here. They should be on black websites. That is where there should be a receptive audience. It is they, the blacks, who should be encouraged to stay home on election day or vote Tancredo or something like that. The Dems are weaker on this issue, but even if not, even if not, the immigration focused are certain that enough has not been done so the blacks should be shown 3rd party options.

[joanie-f]

Steve,

Below is an excerpt from a message I recently wrote to a liberal friend, in partial response to a message she wrote, defending Bush’s illegal immigrants amnesty proposal:

Her excerpt: >>> This country has been dependent on cheap immigrant, slave, child, and/or illegal labor since the first Europeans set foot here. <<<

I agree with you regarding ‘cheap immigrant’ labor, but not regarding ‘illegal’ labor. First of all, immigration laws were nowhere to be found when this country enjoyed its biggest growth spurt. Secondly, during more modern times, the employment of illegal immigrants has had a largely negative effect.

The large supply of low-wage illegals has encouraged American farmers (where many of them work) to lag behind those in other countries. Just one of countless examples: In California, raisin production requires that the raisins be picked by hand, and turned in the drying tray by hand – whereas, in other countries, more modern ‘on the vine’ drying is far less costly and time consuming. In this (and many other similar ways) illegal immigration has artificially depressed wages and artificially increased the profits of the firms that employ them.

New research indicates that a ten percent increase in the number of low-paid workers reduces a worker’s wages by approximately four percent. Over the past two decades, immigration (a good deal of it illegal) has increased the number of workers without a high school diploma by sixteen percent, resulting in a six percent decline in the wage of low-skilled workers. Millions more ‘legal’ Americans looking for low-scale work are affected by this competition from illegals.

The strain on the healthcare/education system is enormous. Past immigrants had to make it on their own – and most did. Not so today. The welfare state/entitlement ‘safety nets’ now in place in this country (that were not here in our heyday) do not ignore illegals. They get sick. They have children. They require financial assistance. Research indicates that illegal immigrants create a net social/fiscal burden on the taxpayers of California alone of more than three billion dollars a year.

I live just a stone’s throw from Reading, PA. Reading has enjoyed the distinction of being designated the ‘per capita murder capital of the country’ (i.e., for its size, more people are murdered there than in any other city in America – Washington DC, Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago, don’t even measure up, on a per capita basis).

The Reading area also has a proportionately large illegal population, many of whom work in area mushroom plants. It is almost impossible to pick up a weekly Reading newspaper and not read about murders, rapes, robberies, etc., certainly not all -- but a disproportionate number of which -- are committed by illegals. There are periodic ‘roundups’, and then the status quo continues ....

Also, in the bygone eras to which you refer, immigrants wanted to assimilate. They learned our native language (many times on their own). Not so today.

Poll after poll also exhibits that legal immigrants don’t want illegals here, and don’t want amnesty for them. What message are we sending to those who abided by our immigration laws, when we allow those who don’t to enjoy the same benefits, without punishment?

The huge influx of illegals has also affected the makeup of Congress. Ilegals are counted in the census, but they are not franchised. So those ten million (or however many are represented in the census) affect the distribution, and number, of congressional seats – changing the fabric of congressional representation, even though they are not citizens, and do not vote.

Her excerpt: >>> Consider that most of the west originally belonged to Mexico (well, even that was conquered by military force, just earlier.) The U.S. just came out west and TOOK all that land, displacing Spanish-speaking people and taking the best for themselves. "Manifest Destiny" and all that, better known as a land-grab. If many of those people, a lot of them with some Native American blood (their ancestors were here for thousands of years before we were), still wander up and down between Mexico and the U.S. and still speak Spanish, I say, why are we getting our noses in a snit about it? This is their historic way of life. <<<

More than two centuries ago, when we embraced the Manifest Destiny philosophy to which you refer, we were not the same country we are today, on so many levels. Sadly, colonialism, without respect to prior ‘ownership,’ was common. Western Europe (indeed, all of the world which was capable of colonizing beyond their borders) behaved just as America did. Not rightly, but of the same mind. ‘Social Darwinism’ (the survival – and expansion -- of the fittest, and most powerful) was the norm.

We cannot use today’s standards to judge what was acceptable then. If we could, that would be akin to judging today’s Christianity by Christianity’s behavior during the Middle Ages, when the selling of indulgences was a common practice. Norms changes (thank God).

While we do most definitely owe a debt of gratitude (vast understatement) to ‘immigrants’ in general – which all of us were at one point or another – the illegals of today do not fall into the same vast category – because of their illegality, and because of their effect on our society as a whole (whose blame can be laid ultimately at the feet of our modern legal/judicial system …. or, more precisely, the lack of a coherent one).
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Lots more I could add, but no time at the moment (drat!). Thanks for the opportunity to vent. :)

~ joanie

[Minuteman23]

Great letter, lass. You have liberal friends? Cavorting with the enemy? :-)

Her ideas about the Spanish and Indians are a typical liberal line. Did you hear back from her?

[ClaireSolt]

Now wait a minute, before you get too excited about this. My experience with reporting illegals here in PBC is that the local INS says it's not their job, but a local law enforcement responsibility. When I repeated that line to a sherrif's department employee, she told me she was sorry I felt that way about it and hung up. As the judge is using a fax, he may not be aware of the futility of reporting illegals in PBC, FL.

[ClaireSolt]

Now wait a minute, before you get too excited about this. My experience with reporting illegals here in PBC is that the local INS says it's not their job, but a local law enforcement responsibility. When I repeated that line to a sherrif's department employee, she told me she was sorry I felt that way about it and hung up. As the judge is using a fax, he may not be aware of the futility of reporting illegals in PBC, FL.

[getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL]

Just curious...what is your experience with reporting illegals in PBC? Is it first-hand or as an observer?

[VeniVidiVici]

My experience with reporting illegals here in PBC is that the local INS says it's not their job, but a local law enforcement responsibility.

This is BS. INS/Border Patrol won't do anything unless they've been convicted of a felony. There are a few exceptions, I would imagine, where if it is convenient they are picked up and deported.

Now I wonder what would happen if you filed a civil complaint against any business that employs illegals??