thedailytimes.com : Your 24/7 news source

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.”