Posted on 09/12/2007 2:40:47 PM PDT by peggybac
Anna Calixto went to court Friday seeking an order of protection from her husband, Fernando Calixto. Instead, she was told to go back to her native country of Nicaragua by Blount County Circuit Court Judge W. Dale Young, according to witnesses. Anna Calixto and witnesses said the judge asked Fernando Calixto — who came to the United States from Mexico — if he was in the United States legally. The judge told him if he wasn’t here legally, he had “no rights in court.” The judge then asked the same question of Anna Calixto. “When the judge asked if I was here legally,” Anna Calixto said, “I told him I have my temporary worker permit and I have the documentation showing it from the immigration service. “The judge shrugged his shoulders like he didn’t care — then he told me to go back to Nicaragua. “I told him I have two children and asked what I was supposed to do about my children. The judge said there were Americans here in this country who could take care of my children.” After the brief discussion, Young reportedly threw Anna Calixto’s request for an order of protection across his desk. Young’s secretary, Amanda Nolan, told The Daily Times Monday that the judge had dismissed Calixto’s request. Numerous calls to Young’s office and home regarding the Calixto case were not returned. Calixto moved to the United States from Nicaragua in 1994 to go to school and work. She and Fernando Calixto met in the United States and were later married. They have a U.S. marriage license issued by the state of Virginia, where they lived at the time. The Calixtos’ children, a 9-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son, are U.S. citizens. Nine months ago the couple separated, and in May Fernando Calixto filed for divorce. Anna Calixto said she wanted an order of protection because her husband has been harassing her, calling her and regularly showing up at her home trying to get visitation with their two children. Calixsto said her husband had also made unauthorized charges to her bank account with a debit card. Hedy Weinberg, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Tennessee, said the charges raised by Calixto are alarming. “We start with the premise that a judge is not an immigration officer,” Weinberg said. “The court is where people go to seek justice. To throw out a request for an order of protection based on ethnicity is just wrong. “The allegations against this judge are serious — and he should be more concerned with justice than where someone was born.” Weinberg said courts are required to treat everyone equally regardless of race, sex or ethnicity. Alice Blevins has worked with Anna Calixto for the past three years in Blount County and accompanied Calixto to court on Friday. She said Calixto is a dependable, hardworking employee and has never had any trouble or problem at work. “I know many Hispanic workers,” Blevins said, “and I always tell them about America. People have rights here — and I convey that to these workers. After what happened in that courtroom, I’m starting to think maybe I was wrong.” Young is a lifelong Blount County resident and has been a Blount County Circuit Court Judge since 1984. No transcript According to Young’s office, there was no clerk or court reporter present during the Calixtos’ hearing and there is no transcript, recording or documentation of what was said. Kathy Martin, the Blount County deputy clerk since 1999, said it is not uncommon in Blount County for a circuit judge to hear a case without a court reporter or clerk present. Martin said that while the requested order of protection had been dismissed by Young, the couple’s original divorce papers were still showing Tuesday afternoon as having no orders filed by the judge. In Knox County, all domestic cases are heard by the 4th Circuit Court. Debbie Sewell, the supervisor of Knox County’s 4th Circuit Court for the past 31 years, said it is extremely rare in Knox County for a case to be heard with only a judge, attorneys and clients present. “It would almost never happen here,” Sewell said. “If there’s no actual court reporter, we almost always have a clerk in the courtroom taking notes. That would be very unusual for us — our clerks almost always have documentation of what happens in the courtroom.” Census data compiled by the Migration Policy Institute ranks Tennessee sixth in the nation for the fastest-growing immigrant population. Between 1990 and 2000, Tennessee’s foreign-born population increased 169 percent. The Hispanic population in Tennessee grew by 278 percent (from 32,741 in 1990 to 123,838 in 2000), the fourth-highest rate of Hispanic growth in the nation. “I left court on Friday feeling lonely and devastated,” Anna Calixto said. “I was crying — my husband was crying too. I felt totally humiliated. “I just don’t know what I’m going to do if a judge won’t even look at my request. I wanted to talk to him more, but after the way he talked to me, I was afraid to say anything to him. “If he’s a judge, I thought he was supposed to be fair and look after people. Even if I’m not American, I am still a human being.”
Originally published: September 12. 2007 3:01AM Last modified: September 12. 2007 12:57AM
Why would this woman not take the home with her? What kind of cold hearted woman is she?
How does it work if somebody is here legally but not a citizen?
Not to make light of it, but she IS getting equal protection. The courts are failing to protect the rights of American citizens just as badly as they are failing to protect Anna.
I say bravo to the judge.
We hear these stories more and more.
I have a question: can’t US-born children petition for their parents legal residence any longer???
Sure would be a simple answer instead of remaining ‘illegal’ and griping about it.
I copied it from the website.
The same husband that she was asking for an order of protection from?
Note as well, the article never states exactly, what her immigration status actually is.
I agree. I guess this person can just go home!
“The same husband that she was asking for an order of protection from? “
yeah. I thought that too. She obviously (in fear for her safety) ran over to tell him all about it.
interesting.
paragraph! i don’t need no stinkin’ paragraph!
How could she get a bank account... Oh, yeah. Bush's New Alliance Task Force made this possible. Thanks, George.
To throw out a request for an order of protection based on ethnicity is just wrong.
He didn't throw it out on her ethnicity. He threw it out based upon her immigration status.
“I left court on Friday feeling lonely and devastated,” Anna Calixto said. “I was crying — my husband was crying too.
Would this be the very same husband who filed for divorce and has been harassing you? The very same one for whom you tried to get a protection order?
Something smells fishy, here.
“If he’s a judge, I thought he was supposed to be fair and look after people. Even if I’m not American, I am still a human being.”
Maybe the judges back in Nicaragua will be more understanding. Go back home and ask them for a protection order.
Nor does it state when her 'temporary' work permit expired.
Calixto moved to the United States from Nicaragua in 1994 to go to school and work.
Well, she moved here in 1994, probably on a student visa. She's been here 13 years. I wonder how long 'temporary' work visas last or when she was planning to go home? </rhetorical>
Sorry, I didn’t mean for you to think that was you - I saw the site, too.
Anna Calixto went to court Friday seeking an order of protection from her husband, Fernando Calixto.
Instead, she was told to go back to her native country of Nicaragua by Blount County Circuit Court Judge W. Dale Young, according to witnesses.
Anna Calixto and witnesses said the judge asked Fernando Calixto — who came to the United States from Mexico — if he was in the United States legally.
The judge told him if he wasn't here legally, he had "no rights in court."
The judge then asked the same question of Anna Calixto.
"When the judge asked if I was here legally," Anna Calixto said, "I told him I have my temporary worker permit and I have the documentation showing it from the immigration service.
"The judge shrugged his shoulders like he didn't care — then he told me to go back to Nicaragua.
"I told him I have two children and asked what I was supposed to do about my children.
The judge said there were Americans here in this country who could take care of my children."
After the brief discussion, Young reportedly threw Anna Calixto's request for an order of protection across his desk.
Young's secretary, Amanda Nolan, told The Daily Times Monday that the judge had dismissed Calixto's request.
Numerous calls to Young's office and home regarding the Calixto case were not returned.
Calixto moved to the United States from Nicaragua in 1994 to go to school and work.
She and Fernando Calixto met in the United States and were later married.
They have a U.S. marriage license issued by the state of Virginia, where they lived at the time.
The Calixtos' children, a 9-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son, are U.S. citizens.
Nine months ago the couple separated, and in May Fernando Calixto filed for divorce.
Anna Calixto said she wanted an order of protection because her husband has been harassing her, calling her and regularly showing up at her home trying to get visitation with their two children.
Calixsto said her husband had also made unauthorized charges to her bank account with a debit card.
Hedy Weinberg, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Tennessee, said the charges raised by Calixto are alarming.
"We start with the premise that a judge is not an immigration officer," Weinberg said. "The court is where people go to seek justice.
To throw out a request for an order of protection based on ethnicity is just wrong.
"The allegations against this judge are serious — and he should be more concerned with justice than where someone was born.
" Weinberg said courts are required to treat everyone equally regardless of race, sex or ethnicity.
Alice Blevins has worked with Anna Calixto for the past three years in Blount County and accompanied Calixto to court on Friday.
She said Calixto is a dependable, hardworking employee and has never had any trouble or problem at work.
"I know many Hispanic workers," Blevins said, "and I always tell them about America.
People have rights here — and I convey that to these workers.
After what happened in that courtroom, I'm starting to think maybe I was wrong.
" Young is a lifelong Blount County resident and has been a Blount County Circuit Court Judge since 1984.
No transcript According to Young's office, there was no clerk or court reporter present during the Calixtos' hearing and there is no transcript, recording or documentation of what was said.
Kathy Martin, the Blount County deputy clerk since 1999,
said it is not uncommon in Blount County for a circuit judge to hear a case without a court reporter or clerk present.
Martin said that while the requested order of protection had been dismissed by Young, the couple's original divorce papers were still showing Tuesday afternoon as having no orders filed by the judge.
In Knox County, all domestic cases are heard by the 4th Circuit Court.
Debbie Sewell, the supervisor of Knox County's 4th Circuit Court for the past 31 years, said it is extremely rare in Knox County for a case to be heard with only a judge, attorneys and clients present.
"It would almost never happen here," Sewell said. "If there's no actual court reporter, we almost always have a clerk in the courtroom taking notes.
That would be very unusual for us — our clerks almost always have documentation of what happens in the courtroom.
" Census data compiled by the Migration Policy Institute ranks Tennessee sixth in the nation for the fastest-growing immigrant population. Between 1990 and 2000, Tennessee's foreign-born population increased 169 percent.
The Hispanic population in Tennessee grew by 278 percent (from 32,741 in 1990 to 123,838 in 2000), the fourth-highest rate of Hispanic growth in the nation.
"I left court on Friday feeling lonely and devastated," Anna Calixto said. "I was crying — my husband was crying too. I felt totally humiliated.
"I just don't know what I'm going to do if a judge won't even look at my request.
I wanted to talk to him more, but after the way he talked to me, I was afraid to say anything to him. "If he's a judge,
I thought he was supposed to be fair and look after people. Even if I'm not American, I am still a human being."
Do we even know if the documents are real? Do we know if the documents even belong to her.
BTW...Student Visas do not allow work permits.
The judge obviously thought it better to let the Nicaraguan justice system sort through all of these complicated issues. And I agree with him.
BTW...Student Visas do not allow work permits.
Didn't know that. Thanks.
Adios, Anna!!
I have a question: can’t US-born children petition for their parents legal residence any longer???
*******************************
I believe they can but they must be 18 or 21 before they can make the request...
I can tell by the way this article was written that the biased author left out that the woman’s papers were expired, which means she is here illegally.
The part about her having a temporary student/work visa is just too muddles. They usually do that on purpose to get around that fact that......she is an illegal!
Can you not read? The woman (and her husband) were here on LEGAL Worker Permits. Hers is up-to-date and she showed it to the reporter. Her husband also came here (from Mexico) LEGALLY on a Worker Permit. There is a photo of the documents. There is no denying her rights as a human being on the grounds of her being something she ain’t.
If you were in a foreign country working LEGALLY and were stalked or harassed by someone you met there (whether you married them or not), you’d fully expect the courts of the country you inhabited to provide for your safety.
Some people just cannot hear the word “immigrant” without their ears erroneously inserting the word “illegal” before it.
She is here LEGALLY on a Worker Permit. As was her husband. They met and married in Virginia. This status is available via the US government department of Immigration and Naturalization Services to those who apply and who qualify. If you don’t want them to grant admittance to LEGAL immigrants, you need to talk to them and not take it out on the people who have taken the time and trouble to be here with proper paperwork.
This woman didn’t sneak across the border in the middle of the night.
So easy to sterotype, isn’t it?
Sure it does: “When the judge asked if I was here legally,” Anna Calixto said, “I told him I have my temporary worker permit and I have the documentation showing it from the immigration service.”
My wife and I were talking about this, and she asked me “how long until they just start making up false accusations against their spouses to get that SS card and visa”.
Her implied relationship with her spouse in this article could lead one to believe that this is the case here, that the judge saw through the BS, and told her to just “go home”.
I personally have no problem with that, but then again, I’m part of the VRWC and have no heart. /s
I went through the article twice and nowhere does it say her husband is either legal or illegal or that he came here on a worker permit.
It says Anna came here on a student visa/worker permit but it doesn’t say whether or not it is still valid.
And it doesn’t matter if they come across the border in the middle of the night or on an airplane. If they overstay their Visa they are here illegally.
When you copy from another source, you have to preview to see if it is formatted correctly for this site.
If it isn't, you have to insert the formatting so it will display correctly.
Not all sites use the same formatting system, and so must be made compatible manually.
Joined us to straighten out the whole illegal vs legal immigrant issues in this posted article, eh?.
That's really good, because, it's not like there has been any discussion on that issue on FR before you came along to offer your astute inputs.
Now don't tell me I've been wrong about this?
No it doesn’t.
Properly, the answer to Judge Young’s question should have been ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ Then it would be expected that, when requested, Ms Calixto would produce documentation supporting her answer (presumably the temporary worker permit). As it is, Anna Calixto’s response could easily be taken to be unresponsive and evasive. She’s been in this country for more than ten years. That’s a long time for a ‘temporary’ worker permit not to have expired. Perhaps it has expired and Ms Calixto has renewed, Or, perhaps she hasn’t. Perhaps Ms Calixto is being evasive. Or, perhaps she is simply ignorant, although it’s hard to believe she has been in this country for over ten years and has learned nothing about the bureaucratic ways of immigration and justice if she has been diligently seeking to remain legal during that whole time. We can’t tell because the news item does not provide a context enabling us to judge which is the case.
In fact, the story is short on context all around, but long on emotionalism. Which makes it look more like a propaganda piece than a news story. In fact, this story has illegal amnesty stink all over it. If that just simply is not the case, then the story is so badly written that it is worse than merely worthless.
Welcome to FR, by the way. Planning on staying a while? Come to think of it, where do you home page out of?
This woman is here legally and has her papers (they were shown on a local television station tonight following the article in The Daily Times this morning - it can be viewed at www.volunteertv.com - the CBS affiliate in Knoxville). She has current papers to live and work in the U.S.
The other piece of this story that came out today is that this Blount County judge has been keeping his court “closed” for years. When he takes the bench, he asks everyone to move into the hallway and closes the doors. With no court reporters or clerks present, it sounds like this doofus is running his own little twisted version of an American Court (which, by law, is supposed to be open).
Regarding her legal or illegal status, it doesn’t matter. Aliens, even aliens whose presence in this country is unlawful, have long been recognized as “persons” guaranteed due process of law by the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments.
This judge is going to end a lengthy career with a few smart-ass comments to this woman - you can bet the ACLU is already drawing up his removal papers. They operate a Judicial Conduct Board for this type of mockery, and the judge will likely be meeting with one in the very near future. Stay tuned - this judge doesn’t have a prayer
Where in that article did you get the idea that she overstayed her visa or worker permit? Her papers are in order and her employer accompanied her to her court date. She has a responsible position in a local business. She is showing reporters her up-to-date papers. You are assuming that she is here illegally because of the Judge’s action. But this particular Judge has a history of arbitrary and capricious actions. He has been known to rule one way in court and then change the decision entirely after the participants have left the courtroom — amongst other things. Nowhere outside Podunkville would you have a case heard with no transcription or notes or recordings. There’s a reason he operates that way. Needless to say, he has a high rate of overturn on appeal.
What is not known by the plaintiff is whether her estranged husband has kept his papers up-to-date. While he came here LEGALLY, you are correct that it is possible he has let those lapse — or just as possible that he has not. He has been counseled not to speak to the press, of course, so noone knows for sure. After all, the dismissal was heavily in his favor, was it not?
Now, while you are sending these people and their kids back to their respective foreign homes, which “home” will you pick? Plaintiff is Nicaraguan, Defendant is Mexican, and children are American. Or should we just send one kid to each country and hope for the best?
Honestly, I live here in E. TN and I know many of the people involved. It’s a smallish town. The paper printed what really happened for once, which is a real switch for them, politics being what they are and the local paper normally seeming to exist as a mouthpiece for generating positive fluff about our “powers that be.”
The particular reporter is an abberation on their staff, and is known, primarily, for revealing corruption in local government. Believe you me, there’s no liberal agenda in that article. If the reporter was true-to-form, it was to expose a potentially unjust Judge/judgment.
Take a peek at the poll at the Daily Times, which printed the article to see what the natives think: http://www.thedailytimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?CATEGORY=OP At this point, 76% of citizens of this place read the article the same way most of you did and assumed the woman was illegal and deserved what she got.
And I might be inclined to agree, if that were true.
In answer to your question about my abrupt appearance, the answer is that I got roped into this forum upon seeing the comments which were based solely on emotional reaction vs. the facts. That’s what Judge Dale Young did. If this is a group who values truths and facts more than rhetoric and emotion, I might sit a spell.
If they are here legally then they have legal protection under the law.
That jackass of a judge was spending too much time snorting something before he got on the bench.
“The judge then asked the same question of Anna Calixto. “When the judge asked if I was here legally,” Anna Calixto said, “I told him I have my temporary worker permit and I have the documentation showing it from the immigration service. “The judge shrugged his shoulders like he didn’t care — then he told me to go back to Nicaragua.”
This part of the story seems to refute your assertion that she was here without our permission.
That was my thought as well. I think the we may be witnessing the first symptoms of IADS (Illegal Alien Derangement Syndrome). This malady occurs when otherwise sane people have been driven nuts by illegals demanding rights they are not entitled to, causing decent Americans of all political stripes to rebel against all foreigners. The only known treatment is to build a fence and deport illegals immediately, so those here legally will not be persecuted for no apparent reason.
I agree
If, as you indicate, in his reporting it is Laney’s inclination to uncover official corruption and malfeasance in local government, then he has failed with this article, and I hope it is not typical of his work. But perhaps that does explain why his editors let the article slide, since you indicate they are little more than a mouthpiece for generating positive fluff about the local “powers that be” Who, by the way, are the local ‘Powers That Be’? Can they be generally regarded as ‘Conservative’ or ‘Liberal’? Likewise, the paper. Is it a Liberal rag? Or, a Conservative rag?
Laney’s failures abound. If his narrative is intended to portray Mrs. Calixto as a victim of an indifferent, maverick judge, then he doesn’t succeed very well. The way it’s written, the article somehow manages to cast at least as much suspicion on Mr. Calixto as it does on the judge. Laney doesn’t even mention that Mrs. Calixto has ‘up-to-date’ papers and that she is showing them to reporters. Which reporters? Not Laney, it would appear, who selects a quote from Mrs. Calixto that makes her appear evasive in her response about her legal status. We have to wait for you (msg #24, msg #34) to inform us that her papers are, indeed, current, and that she has demonstrated the fact.
What is the main point of this article? Is it about a woman seeking protection from an estranged husband over an issue of visitation? Or is it about their immigration status? It is the former, presumably, yet the emphasis of everyone’s attention (not just FReepers) seems to be on the latter (Which makes your typical FReeper suspicious as Hell. I’m sorry. I wish that weren’t so, but we’ve been lied to, too much).
For some reason, I get the feeling that there’s a considerable history between this couple and Judge Young. You can’t beat local knowledge, so would you care to fill us in, briefly, on the relevant details? The Daily Times reporter seems reluctant to do so (or maybe it’s just his editors).
I’ll be gone for a couple of days, but I’ll be very interested in what you have to say, and I’ll try to respond if I can in a timely fashion. Thanks in advance.
Good Lord! This isn’t Fox or CNN and here you are looking for a motive or “point” in this article! It’s the Maryville-Alcoa Daily Times. The poor slob of a reporter probably had a hard enough time getting an article printed that could be remotely negatively about a local politician, much less manage to get any attitude injected into it! Doesn’t anyone out there ever just write a story that reports the facts? This guy is an “outsider,” not a local, or he probably wouldn’t do the sorts of stories he does. Local folks know enough to be too afraid of the Sheriff to rock the boat. Don’t know anything else about him and I don’t expect him to be around very long. Goodness knows, the rest of the reporters there just print whatever the politicians tell them to, so it is obvious that he “ain’t from around here.”
This is a Republican county, but I don’t think you’d call the “powers that be” conservative at all. Most any local could tell stories about county government that would curl your hair.
I’m sure you realize that there had to be one or two attorneys present in the courtroom, but you sure don’t hear them talking in public.
As for the Calixtos, they don’t seem the troublemaking type other than this divorce.
It doesn’t strike me as an impossibly high standard to expect accurate reportage of a relatively straightforward story, given even no more than a reporter of moderate ability. The issue doesn’t seem so much a matter of ability as one of will.
Nor does it strike me as reasonable to refer to the reporter as a ‘poor slob’ given that you claim no more than scant knowledge of him. As I understand it, he has received a local area award for investigative reporting (hopefully on the basis of a story better done than the story we are discussing). Oddly enough, apparently the award didn’t get him fired from the paper. Likewise, given that you know so little of him, what makes you so confident that he won’t be around very long? How is it, if he indeed is an outsider, that he was ever hired in the first place, if the paper is so adverse to anyone who might elect to ‘rock the boat’? How long has he been on the job? And, how is it that you would chose to describe doing a straightforward reporting of the facts as ‘injecting an attitude’ into a news story? Your answers raise more questions than they resolve.
You ask (presumably rhetorically) if anyone out there ever writes a story that just reports the facts. That was my original question, provoked by the dearth of definitive information contained in the subject story. What is your point? I’ve already illustrated mine.
You state that “this is a Republican county.” You go on to observe that you don’t think we would call the ‘powers that be’ in the county as conservative. Very well. What do you think we would call them?
I grew up in a county where the sheriff (a Democrat) fatally shot the county judge (a Republican) in the ally between the newspaper office and the movie theatre. Go ahead. Tell me a story that would curl my hair.
The site has paragraphs. You need to preview.
SHE CAN TAKE HER KIDS HOME WITH HER. THEY ARE GOING TO CHANGE THE ANCHOR BABY LAW.....
SHE CAN TAKE HER KIDS HOME WITH HER. THEY ARE GOING TO CHANGE THE ANCHOR BABY LAW.....
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.