Judge suspended over 'Tarzan' complaint
August 4, 2003 www.cnn.com
BOSTON, Massachusetts (Reuters) -- Federal authorities said on Monday they had suspended a U.S. immigration judge after a newspaper reported he referred to himself as Tarzan during court proceedings for an African political asylum seeker named Jane.
The Boston Herald reported that at the start of the proceedings in June, U.S. Immigration Judge Thomas Ragno told the woman: "Jane, come here. Me Tarzan."
Ragno, who presides over an immigration court in Boston, then "laughed and talked about how funny the Tarzan cartoons were," the Herald said, quoting an affidavit signed by Jane's doctor.
The Executive Office for Immigration Review, a division of the U.S. Department of Justice, placed Ragno on paid administrative leave and referred his case to an agency within the department that investigates matters of professional responsibility, an EOIR spokesman told Reuters.
EOIR administers 52 immigration courts in the United States, including one in Boston. More than 200 immigration judges work in its courts.
Jane, who is still in the United States, is described by doctors as a former political prisoner in Uganda who was beaten, raped and tortured, the Herald reported. Top