{"id":992783,"date":"2026-08-10T10:04:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T10:04:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/992783\/"},"modified":"2026-08-10T10:04:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T10:04:16","slug":"letters-fired-chicago-immigration-judges-served-honorably","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/992783\/","title":{"rendered":"Letters: Fired Chicago immigration judges served honorably"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thank you for Caroline Kubzansky\u2019s reporting of the abrupt firing by the Department of Justice of experienced local immigration Judges Eva Saltzman and Elizabeth Crites (\u201c2 more Chicago immigration judges fired as court becomes epicenter of removal orders,\u201d<\/a> Aug. 2).<\/p>\n

As a retired pediatrician volunteer for the Acacia Center for Justice\u2019s Witness for Justice program since 2025, I had the opportunity to be a virtual observer in Crites\u2019 kids docket immigration court last year. She did a fine job on tough cases that day. The challenge for children in immigration cases are many: frequently unaccompanied, no interpreter and unaware of their right to be represented by a pro bono lawyer. Judges are trying to be fair, often needing to postpone a case in order to allow for more time for these required services to be put in place. Funds to provide these pro bono lawyers are ending, creating a further backlog of immigration cases on the kids dockets.<\/p>\n

Court observers are there to assess not only the fairness of the proceedings but also of the status of the juvenile in that court. Pediatricians are skilled at ascertaining how a child is being affected by what is happening around them. Good judges who do the right thing, by applying the law about representation for respondents or exerting more efforts for placement instead of removal, could be fired for failure to issue a removal order. Volunteer immigration court observers will continue to bear witness to what the children are suffering in U.S. courts.<\/p>\n

With the DOJ directive per the Executive Office for Immigration Review of removal quotas regardless of circumstances and the firing of seasoned immigration judges, the suffering of immigrant children in U.S. courts will only continue.<\/p>\n

Thank you to the judges for their service.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Sara Guerrero-Duby, Long Grove<\/p>\n

De Haas cared about jazz<\/p>\n

The passing of Geraldine de Haas<\/a> removes one of the last living links to a Chicago that still understood jazz as a civic language rather than a specialty product.<\/p>\n

She was called the first lady of Chicago jazz not because the title was fashionable, but because she treated the music as something that belonged in public life \u2014 schools, festivals, neighborhoods \u2014 rather than in the carefully curated corners of cultural tourism. That is a rarer achievement than virtuosity alone.<\/p>\n

A conductor recognizes the same distinction. Technique can be taught; the ability to make a city hear itself is not.<\/p>\n

De Haas spent decades insisting that the music resonate in ordinary places. The city is quieter for her loss.<\/p>\n

\u2014 David Woodard, conductor, Tampere, Finland<\/p>\n

Chicago blocks with stories<\/p>\n

Thanks to Albert Friedman for plans to transform the Medinah Temple into an \u201cexperiential palace,\u201d as reported in Robert Channick\u2019s article \u201cMedinah Temple owner ready to roll dice again on a post-Bally\u2019s future\u201d<\/a> (July 31).<\/p>\n

I have fond memories of the Medinah Shrine Circus: trapeze artists who seemed to swing over our heads, roaring lions too close for comfort and a parade of elephants preceded by their pungent odor. This was in the 1960s, so before PETA started its rightful campaign against animal abuse.<\/p>\n

The temple was a short walk from my father\u2019s grocery store on the east side of Clark Street near Ohio Street. That neighborhood had several buildings not worth preserving like the temple, but with interesting and sometimes scandalous histories.<\/p>\n

On Saturdays, he often sent me to the St. Regis Hotel on 516 N. Clark for lunch at the ground-floor diner. The hotel catered to local workers, retirees and short-term visitors on a budget. I looked forward to reading Mike Royko\u2019s columns in the Chicago Daily News detailing the exploits of a mythical character called Slats Grobnik. Royko frequently took jabs at Hizzoner Mayor Richard J Daly or made acerbic observations about organized crime that Royko dubbed The Outfit. That address became the location of the very first Maggiano\u2019s Little Italy.<\/p>\n

We delivered groceries to the Nicolette Hotel, 666 N. Clark, which catered to young women involved in the world\u2019s oldest profession. That site was eventually absorbed by a larger building that houses the Chinese Consulate at 100 W. Erie St.<\/p>\n

The grocery store was on property owned by the Sunshine Gospel Mission, 604 N. Clark, situated across the street. The mission provided meals to low-income residents and people who were homeless. The mission was flanked by skid row saloons. A dry cleaner\/shoeshine business occupied an adjacent storefront. The entire block is now the site of a flagship McDonald\u2019s.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t share many of these details with my high school classmates. Instead, I talked about the circus performers who visited our store looking for fresh fruit.<\/p>\n

That seemed a more believable experience.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Jerry Levy, Deerfield<\/p>\n

A joyful sea of pope hats<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t wait for Aug. 11 when the White Sox take the field in front of a crowd of energized fans, thousands of them wearing, of all things, pope hats. What will that look like? I can\u2019t even imagine, but I think Pope Leo XIV, the team\u2019s most famous fan, will be grinning from ear to ear. I\u2019d love to get a photo of him taking it all in, his handsome and friendly face reflecting the joy and humor of a very creative day at the South Side baseball park.<\/p>\n

Some may worry that this kind of demonstration might be offensive to some Catholics or to the pope himself.\u00a0 I call it a wonderful, creative and joyful tribute to a very special White Sox fan who just happens to be the leader of the most profound religion in the world. I strongly doubt that Leo would be offended by this humorous, yet respectful, massive tribute. The only thing that could outdo this display of pope hats is Leo himself, sitting in the grandstands munching a hot dog smothered in mustard.<\/p>\n

We in the Chicago area should be grateful to Mike Downey, director of marketing and fan promotions, for his creative genius and to everyone who contributed to this very special celebration at Sox park.<\/p>\n

For sure, an amused Leo will be thrilled and honored.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Kathleen Melia, Niles<\/p>\n

People are still reading<\/p>\n

I thoroughly enjoyed the insight by letter writer Harvey J. Graff in \u201cThe end of reading?\u201d<\/a> (July 31). At a time when political leaders such as Gov. Ron DeSantis and President Donald Trump have made banning books and threatening librarians a cornerstone of their political agenda, why on earth would so many people put so much energy into banning books, if no one is bothering to read anymore?<\/p>\n

Something is missing from this analysis.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Jack Shreve, Chicago<\/p>\n

Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here<\/a> or email letters@chicagotribune.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thank you for Caroline Kubzansky\u2019s reporting of the abrupt firing by the Department of Justice of experienced local…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":992784,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5124],"tags":[20717,960,9611,398003,398002,398004,5386,1818,195985,52420,3417,5390],"class_list":["post-992783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago","tag-book-bans","tag-chicago","tag-department-of-justice","tag-elizabeth-crites","tag-eva-saltzman","tag-geraldine-de-haas","tag-il","tag-illinois","tag-immigration-judges","tag-medinah-temple","tag-pope-leo-xiv","tag-white-sox"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117070651308067899","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/992783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=992783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/992783\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/992784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=992783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=992783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=992783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}