Miscellaneous

Because a Fence Would Cut off Our Airport Access

By Anne Skove, Esq.

We first heard the very last snippets of this story on tv news: someone wanted courts to keep tabs on the number of undocumented workers they encounter.

"Sure," we thought, "in the court's free time!"

We've heard this type of research proposed before in other states. Courts generally reel at the prospect of having to check what could well be bogus paperwork on every single person that comes through their doors. Courts are already under-staffed and over-worked, they complain.

But the person making this suggestion was...a judge!

Judge Norbert Nadel made the suggestion after sitting on the case of a man who beat a 4-month-old baby. The defendant required interpreters. Judge Nadel remarked that "a large majority of them, when they don't speak English, are illegal."

Tell that to my great-grammy (rest her soul)!

He is also concerned about cost. Hamilton County's six interpreters cost over $250,000/year.

How that money would be saved by deporting people, we don't know. Surely they would need even more interpreters (not to mention more court staff time) to obtain all the background information and for the extra hearings that would ensue. Then there's the issue of fraud investigation (for phony documents), figuring out what to do with the children, etc.

The judge also called for a state law sanctioning employers of undocumented workers.

See Judge Wants Ohio Law Against Hiring Illegals, Kimball Perry, Cincinnati Enquirer (February 28, 2008).

See also the Supreme Court of Ohio's Interpreter Services Program, which has put together several good resources.

Full post as published by court-o-rama.org on February 29, 2008 (boomark / email).