Judge John Primomo served in San Antonio.
A federal judge in Texas was suspended on Monday for telling newly sworn-in US citizens to leave the country if they didn’t like president-elect Donald Trump.
Judge John Primomo was suspended for his alleged comments during a citizenship ceremony in San Antonio last week, reported Express News.
A statement issued by U.S. district judges at San Antonio’s federal courthouse — who appoint and oversee federal magistrate judges — said that they “have determined that he will no longer be handling citizenship ceremonies, and the judges are meeting with him to see how this matter can be resolved and concluded.”
Kens 5 reported that Primomo told newly sworn-in citizens to go to another country if they didn’t like Trump.
“I can assure you that whether you voted for him or you did not vote for him if you are a citizen of the United States, he is your president. He will be your president and if you do not like that, you need to go to another country,” Primomo was quoted as saying by Kens 5.
The judge went on to criticize those protesting against Trump becoming the president.
“I detest that because you can protest things that happen in this country; you have every right to,” Judge Primomo said. “You don’t do that by offending national symbols like the national anthem and the flag of the United States.”
According to Primomo, he was trying to say something to unify the community and not for or against Donald Trump.
“I would never say anything like that. I wasn’t trying to say anything for or against Donald Trump. I was just trying to say something hopeful and unifying and unfortunately it was taken out of context,” he was quoted as saying by Express News.
Primomo has been presiding over citizenship ceremonies held once in a month in different venues since 1989. He has sworn in more than 100,000 new citizens.