This was in my email from my good friend and fellow member of the notClark County Bar Association, Matt Cummings:
US immigration judge suspended over Tarzan commentHmmm, is it fair to rag on a judge named Ragno? And I wonder if there would have been any complaint if he had not denied her request for asylum? And, who in the heck names their chimpanzee after a species of large, fast sprinting felines?An immigration judge in the US has been placed on leave after complaints that he made jokes about Tarzan to a woman who'd been raped and tortured in her native Uganda.
The woman, whose first name is Jane, went before Judge Thomas Ragno in June, seeking political asylum in the United States because her husband was killed and she was beaten, raped and tortured in her homeland.
"Jane, come here. Me Tarzan!" Judge Ragno said, according to the woman's physician, Dr Sondra Crosby, who attended the June 20 deportation hearing to testify about the woman's injuries.
"It was disrespectful and insulting, and in my mind it was racist to have a white judge making Tarzan comments to a black woman," Dr Crosby said.
Dr Crosby filed an affidavit protesting at Judge Ragno's behaviour as part of the woman's appeal of the judge's rejection of her bid for asylum.
After learning of the complaint, the Executive Office for Immigration Review, a division of the US Department of Justice, placed Judge Ragno on paid leave pending an investigation.
During the court session, Judge Ragno also listened to a weather forecast on his speaker phone and discussed his search for a new apartment, Dr Crosby said.
© Associated Press
Story filed: 13:55 Tuesday 5th August 2003
*Lefties? Bleeding heart liberals? Right wing extremists? Even kids with chicken pox? Who are these people that continually place blame other than where it should be: on the stupid individuals who continually do stupid stuff?
Posted by Tiger at August 6, 2003 11:01 AM