Courts

Judge 'Didn't Mean To Offend' When He Called Undocumented Immigrants 'Wetbacks'

He'll no longer handle cases, we're told.

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Deep sigh.

Texas Senior State District Court Judge Mark Luitjen will no longer be on a list of visiting judges allowed to hear cases, following “racially divisive” comments that were also racist and stupid and deeply offensive.

KSAT-12 reports (gavel bang: ABA Journal):

Luitjen said he made the remarks while having a private conversation with a court reporter.

“What I said was, after we talked to each other about this for two to three minutes, ‘It was easier when they used to call them wetbacks and mojaos,” Luitjen said.

Luitjen said he was referring to undocumented immigrants who had appeared in court that day.

It’s not all that surprising to me that a Texas judge longs for the days when brown people could be called “wetbacks” without consequences. What I kind of don’t get is how you can be alive in the year 2019 and say this stuff and be honestly surprised by the blowback:

“I didn’t intend to offend anyone and I don’t think I did. The court reporter I was talking with was not offended, she told me that herself,” Luitjen said. “Everyone else in that room was Hispanic and it wasn’t like you were trying to have a conversation where you would whisper something because you knew it would offend someone.”

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You mean the room full of non-white people, some of whom need to appear in front of a court to argue their status, didn’t immediately get in this judge’s face and call him out for his racist comments? WHAT A SHOCK!

What an asshole. In a reasonable system, every single one of this man’s decisions, over his entire career, would be reviewed and appealed on the grounds of racial bias.

Local judge barred, apologizes after making racial slurs [KSAT-12]

Elie Mystal is the Executive Editor of Above the Law and a contributor at The Nation. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at elie@abovethelaw.com. He will resist.

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