A Charlotte immigration judge reportedly threatened to sic a dog on a fidgety 2-year-old in his courtroom three years ago. Recently, he received a promotion to the highest immigration court in the country.
“The child was calm, but was making some small babbling noises while the judge was doing the roll call…” the paralegal said in a statement. “…The judge showed signs of frustration and proceeded to use an extremely strong tone of voice with (the boy) while forcefully pointing his finger at the child. On multiple occasions, he demanded that the child sit down and be quiet. When the babbling continued, the judge continued with an even higher level of forceful language and yelled: ‘I have a very big dog in my office, and if you don’t be quiet, he will come out and bite you!’”
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The statement continues, “The child continued to squirm a bit in the chair, and the judge proceeded to yell ‘(the child’s name) Want me to go get the dog? If you don’t stop talking, I will bring the dog out. Do you want him to bite you?’ The judge was yelling at the child directly. The judge would continue questioning the child until he would answer the judge’s questions with a ‘si’ or a ‘no.’”According to the complaint, Judge Couch, a Marine Corps veteran, threatened other children previously as well.
“(The judge) then stated that: (paraphrased) usually when I threaten children with scary animals, it works. Not with this kid,” the paralegal wrote.