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Ana Calixto has appealed Blount County Circuit Court Judge W. Dale Young’s dismissal of her request for an order of protection from her estranged husband. In September, after reportedly telling her to go back to Nicaragua, Young dismissed Calixto’s request.

Maryville attorney Mike Hickman, who represented Ana’s husband Fernando Calixto at the controversial September hearing, has withdrawn from the case.
Attorneys Mike Whalen of Knoxville and Ben Pressnell, of Tazewell, who were referred by the American Civil Liberties Union and are working for Ana Calixto pro bono, filed the appeal Oct. 9.

According to multiple witnesses who were in the courtroom on Sept. 7, the judge asked the Calixtos if they were in the United States legally, told them they had no rights in court and instructed them to go back where they came from. He then dismissed Ana Calixto’s request for an order of protection.

Ana Calixto said she then asked the judge what she should do with her two children — both legal U.S. citizens — and the judge reportedly told her there were Americans here in this country who could take care of her children.

Ana Calixto has been in the United States legally since 1994 when she came here to attend school and work. Her current employment authorization card from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Department — of which The Daily Times has obtained a copy — is valid through Jan. 5, 2009.

She met her husband, an immigrant from Mexico, in the U.S. and the couple has a U.S. marriage license issued by the state of Virginia.

The Calixtos have been separated for 10 months and are getting a divorce.

Although Ana Calixto is a legal immigrant, law experts say immigration and residency status is irrelevant in a U.S. court.

In late September, the Tennessee Court of the Judiciary launched an investigation of Young and a state investigator, Jim LaRue came to Blount County to conduct numerous interviews.

The Court of the Judiciary is charged with providing a process by which sanctions can be imposed against a judge and, when necessary, provide procedures for the removal of a judge.

Earlier this month, three civil rights groups sent a formal letter to the disciplinary counsel for the Tennessee Court of the Judiciary requesting action against the judge for his treatment of the Calixtos. The Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) asked the court to “strongly consider remedial action” against Young.

Young has not returned repeated calls from The Daily Times to his office and home since the story was first reported on Sept. 12.

Ana Calixto’s appeal is expected to be heard in the Tennessee Supreme Court’s Eastern Division Appellate Court in downtown Knoxville.