Federal magistrate judge tells new citizens they can move if they don't like Trump
A federal magistrate judge in San Antonio delivered a message to new citizens at an induction ceremony on Friday.
U.S. Magistrate Judge John Primomo said the new citizens had a choice if they didn’t like President-elect Donald Trump, KENS-TV reports in a story noted by the Dallas Morning News, the San Antonio Express-News and the Washington Post.
“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,” Primomo said. “He will be your president and if you do not like that, you need to go to another country.”
Primomo also criticized NFL players who kneel during the national anthem to protest police brutality. “I detest that, because you can protest things that happen in this country; you have every right to,” Primomo said. “You don’t do that by offending national symbols like the national anthem and the flag of the United States.”
Primomo told KENS that he intended his message to be unifying and he didn’t vote for Trump. He told the San Antonio Express-News that he wasn’t trying to tell the new citizens to leave if they didn’t like Trump. “I wasn’t trying to say anything for or against Donald Trump,” Primomo said. “I was just trying to say something hopeful and unifying and unfortunately it was taken out of context.”
Federal judges who appointed Primomo were meeting on Monday to discuss the comments, Primomo told the Express-News. The district judges decided to bar Primomo from presiding over naturalization events, the Associated Press reports.
Primomo is the son of immigrants from Italy and Germany, according to the Express-News. The newspaper says he is known as “a no-nonsense jurist, who gives stern tongue-lashings to defendants who get smug.” He also volunteers at a local children’s hospital and once shaved his head in support of young cancer patients.
Updated on Nov. 22 to include Associated Press coverage.
