It has now been confirmed that it was local attorney Bruce Tharpe who called the Immigration and Customs Enforcement to report the husband of one of his female clients after he was faring badly in family court.
The couple were before the court to determine the amount of child support and visitation rights. By all accounts, the father had been making every effort to live up to his responsibilities and the court was sympathetic in allowing him visitation to his offspring.
And, in the evidence that was presented to the court and the conditions the little girl was living in with her mother and the obvious affection between father and daughter, the court was leaning toward siding with the father.
Attorney Liz Valdez Garza was representing the father and Tharpe was representing the woman.
Unbeknownst to everyone, Tharpe called I.C.E. to report the man. According to various sources, the ICE agents arrived at the courthouse and asked security for the suspect and waited for about two hours until the hearing was over and he emerged from the courthouse.
Now Valdez-Garza, who first thought it was Tharpe's client who had called ICE to report her former husband, says that the ICE agent has told her that his supervisor had specifically ordered him to seek out Tharpe when he got to the courthouse.
"Everybody is upset," she wrote. Apparently, the suspect was not wanted for any crime and it was only a civil hearing on a family matter.
As news of Tharpe's vindictive move becomes known, will other fathers who may be in a similar situation become wary of appearing in family (or in any other courts) if they think the opposing attorneys will sic immigration authorities on them if they show up? People blame the federal government for separating immigrant families, but is what Tharpe did any different?
What if they happen to be witnesses in criminal cases and the lawyers for the criminal know they are undocumented? Will the crime victims have to forgo justice if the undocumented witnesses are arrested and detained?
We have mentioned in a past post that Tharpe was a professional wrestler in the past, even getting to be the president of a fledgling wrestling association. Does that mean that he believes in the no-hold-barred approach to the law as well?