A federal judge who was serving at the U.S. Immigration Court in Hartford and was reportedly called a “traitor” by ICE agents who grabbed an immigrant outside his courtroom says his job has been “terminated.”
Judge Theodore Doolittle posted his termination on the site Linkedin.
In May, after a former Yale student who had been then detained by immigration agents in Hartford’s federal courthouse received medical attention after being hit seven times with Tasers by immigration agents, Doolittle was rebuked by agents after he tried to intervene, according to information presented in court at the time.
“Appointed in 2023 by the Attorney General of the United States to hear immigration matters at the U.S. Immigration Court in Hartford, CT. Received an outstanding performance evaluation from my supervisory judge before the end of my two-year probationary period, but nevertheless the new administration terminated me, along with a number of other Immigration Judges in my class, with no justification articulated,” Doolittle posted on LinkedIn.
Doolittle also terms himself a “former immigration judge.”
A message seeking comment was sent to the spokesman for the U.S. Judicial District in Connecticut. It is not know if the incident outside the courtroom is connected to the termination.
Hartford attorney Gregory C. Osakwe, who represented former Yale student Saifullah Khan, argued for bond in May, disputing government arguments about danger and flight, while providing more information about how ICE agents made the arrest.
Osakwe said at the time that Khan, who had a pending asylum application, had been summoned to appear in immigration court and was leaving Doolittle’s courtroom after the hearing was continued to a future date.
“They didn’t identify themselves. They sought to grab him. And then he, not knowing who they were, started running back to the court and he was tasered seven times. Judge Doolittle came out of the court and asked ICE officers, ’Why are you doing this?’ And they told him he should not interfere with a lawful arrest. “
“As a matter of fact, the ICE officers subsequently told (Khan) that the judge was a traitor for coming out to challenge them,” Osakwe said.
This week, Hartford immigrant advocates are calling for the release of a community activist who was reportedly taken by federal ICE agents during a routine immigration check-in Wednesday.
Victor Sanchez, a member of Make the Road CT and Hartford Deportation Defense who has been in the U.S. since 2004, is facing imminent deportation after he was detained, according to those groups.
Reporting by Edmund H. Mahony and Kaitlin McCallum is included.
