A federal immigration judge who hoped Hillary Clinton would win the 2016 election because the Republicans had no immigration policy except to “try to deport everybody” has been found guilty of violating the Hatch Act.
Since-retired Judge Carmene “Zsa Zsa” DePaolo, who worked for the Department of Justice, was fined Tuesday for violating the Hatch Act that forbids public servants from engaging in politics while on duty, according to Fox News.
An administrative law judge working for the Merit Systems Protection Board reprimanded DePaolo and gave her the maximum $1,000 fine. She will also be banned from working for the federal government for 30 months.
U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and her daughter Chelsea wave to the crowd at a campaign rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, U.S. Nov. 8, 2016. (Brian Snyder/Reuters)
The charge was brought against DePaolo by the U.S. Office of Special Counsel in June 2018 after noting her behavior at a 2016 deportation hearing.
“We are very pleased with the outcome of this case and believe the significant disciplinary action imposed against Judge DePaolo is appropriate and warranted,” reads a statement from Special Counsel Henry J. Kerner.
In the March 2016 deportation hearing, DePaolo went beyond interpreting the law and actively campaigned for Hillary Clinton while dismissing the Republicans. When addressing an individual facing deportation and 10-year prohibition on coming back to the United States, DePaolo called the decision “a pretty harsh thing” and said that was all going to change if Hillary Clinton won that year’s presidential contest. (RELATED: Hillary’s Refugee Policy Will Run Taxpayers $400 Billion)
Clinton moved progressively to the left from her previous immigration positions during the 2016 election campaign. Where she once opposed driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants, she embraced that policy while running for president. In 2006, George W. Bush wanted to build a 700-mile fence along the U.S-Mexico border to keep illegal immigrants out and she voted for The Secure Fence Act. In 2016, she belittled then-candidate Donald Trump’s call for a “big, beautiful wall.”
Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump models a hard hat in support of the miners during his rally at the Charleston Civic Center on May 5, 2016 in Charleston, West Virginia. (Photo by Mark Lyons/Getty Images)
DePaolo suggested it would be a great thing if the Democrats also picked up the Senate and House in the November elections because “there’s some hope that they can actually pass immigration legislation.” His hopes were dashed with the Democrats losing both the executive and both legislative branches of the federal government that year.
As for the Republicans, DePaolo suggested they “aren’t going to do anything” on the immigration file “if they can help it.” She suggested their only goal was to “try to deport everybody.” (RELATED: Hillary Clinton: ‘There Is No National Emergency At Our Border’)
The judge’s decision said DePaolo had compromised the neutrality of public servants. “Respondent’s actions raises the specter that this nation’s courtrooms are partisan, and that judges consider political platforms when advising litigants. The very nature of her offense politicizes the judiciary and the federal workforce and militates toward a more severe sanction.”