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EL PASO, Tx., January 14, 2026: A court document filed on December 17 alleges that El Paso Judge Marlene Gonzalez has a \u201cpattern and practice of cruelty towards\u201d migrant children in her courtroom. Last Friday, El Paso Herald Post received a copy of the court document from El Paso attorney Joy Degenhart. An attorney for the non-profit Estrella del Paso filed the motion to remove Gonzalez from a case he was working on alleging that Gonzalez was abusive towards migrants children in her courtroom.<\/p>\n
The Estrella del Paso<\/a>, formerly the Diocesan Migrant and Refugee Services (DMRS) is a nonprofit organization established in 1986 to help asylum seekers. Estrella del Paso is a ministry of the Roman Catholic Diocese of El Paso. It changed its name from DMRS to Estrella del Paso in 2023.<\/p>\n Estrella del Paso attorney, Jacob Wedemeyer, filed a recusal request asking that Gonzalez be removed from presiding over his case involving a migrant child because of Gonzalez\u2019s \u201cpattern and practice of cruelty towards unaccompanied noncitizen children.\u201d<\/p>\n According to the court filing, the nonprofit provides legal representation to unaccompanied noncitizen children \u201cwho enter the United States without legal status and without a parent.\u201d Migrant children without authority to be in the U.S. have access to a Special Immigrant Juvenile (SIJ) visa that provides them a pathway to citizenship. To obtain the SIJ visa, the migrant minor must have a state court issue a finding that under state law the \u201creunification with one or both parents is not viable because of abuse, abandonment, or neglect, and it is not in the best interest of the child\u201d to return to their home country.<\/p>\n If the state court issues the finding that the migrant child meets the requirements under state law, then the child can use the finding to file for the SIJ visa to allow the child to remain in the country.<\/p>\n According to the recusal motion, Gonzalez \u201chas engaged in a pattern and practice of cruelty towards unaccompanied noncitizen children who appear before her court since 2021.\u201d The motion alleges that \u201cher cruelty has escalated over the years.\u201d<\/p>\n In one case, a 17-year-old who had been admitted to several psychiatric facilities was asked by Gonzalez if he \u201cbelieve[s] that coming to the United States was a free-for-all, and that you could do whatever, and you can go to any place you want,\u201d after the boy had told her that he \u201cwould just get sad\u201d because he wasn\u2019t allowed to leave the shelter and would start cutting his arms. Gonzalez then asked the lawyers to present evidence of \u201cthe boy abandoning his mother.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Wedemeyer\u2019s filing, Gonzalez \u201ccommonly shames the children by accusing them of abandoning their parents,\u201d in leading questions like, \u201cisn\u2019t it true that you abandoned your parents when you came to the United States?\u201d The court filing states that the question is not appropriate because \u201cnothing in the Texas Family Code imposes a duty on minor children not to abandon their parents.\u201d<\/p>\n In another case presented by Wedemeyer, Gonzalez \u201cscolded\u201d a 16-year-old Venezuelan girl who was the victim of child protestation, telling her \u201cnot to engage in prostitution.\u201d<\/p>\n The court filing includes affidavits from lawyers and social services providers documenting how Gonzalez treats migrant children in her courtroom. In one affidavit by Valgina Rodriguez Calderon, also an Estrella del Paso attorney, she wrote that Gonzalez \u201chas engaged in conduct that demonstrates bias, prejudice, hostility, or disregard toward migrant children\u201d in her courtroom.<\/p>\n Calderon goes on to write in her affidavit that Gonzalez expresses \u201ca view of superiority and bias\u201d when children in her courtroom communicate in any Mayan language. According to Calderon, when Gonzalez publicly labels Mayan \u201care dialects instead of languages,\u201d it \u201cmarginalizes groups erroneously linked with \u2018poverty\u2019 and \u2018ignorance\u2019,\u201d through \u201ca stigma that connects their Indigenous heritage\u201d by using their native Mayan language.<\/p>\n The are more than 20 Mayan languages that are separate languages and not dialects. University of Illinois professor Ryan Shosted explained<\/a> that the language label is \u201ca reflection of power,\u201d and that \u201cpeople get to call the thing they speak a language if the[y] have socioeconomic and political power.\u201d<\/p>\n Labelling Maya as a dialect can lead to problems<\/a> in the courtroom because the assumption is made that a Spanish interpreter is enough for the court proceeding leading to factual problems detrimental to the Mayan speaker.<\/p>\n Last Wednesday, January 7, Gonzalez filed a signed order voluntarily recusing herself from the Wedemeyer case. The latest recusal by Gonzalez adds to several others filed by other attorneys for the last three years.<\/p>\n Several Attorneys Have Filed Recusals Against Gonzalez<\/p>\n The Wedemeyer recusal is not the only recusal granted to an attorney complaining about Gonzalez. El Paso Herald Post reviewed several other recusals that were granted to attorneys accusing Gonzalez of migrant or other bias. In a 2022 recusal case filed by Robert R. Feuille, Gonzalez recused herself citing an \u201cadversarial position.\u201d In another case, this one in July 2025 case, attorney Joe Rosales filed a motion against Gonzalez asking for her recusal from a case he was representing, also citing an \u201cadversarial position.\u201d<\/p>\n In September, local attorney and former opponent for Gonzalez\u2019s court seat, Joy Degenhart, filed a motion to recuse her from a case Degenhart was working on. According to Degenhart\u2019s filing, she felt that Gonzalez \u201cwould be unable to maintain a fair and impartial appearance.\u201d Degenhart explained in her filing that Gonzalez filed a grievance against her on February 26, 2024. Degenhart was challenging Gonzalez for her seat in the 2024 elections.<\/p>\n Degenhart\u2019s motion explains that Gonzalez had also filed grievances against Feuille, Rosales and now Degenhart without disclosing the grievances to the attorneys who continued trying cases in Gonzalez\u2019s courtroom. According to the court filing, Gonzalez should have notified the attorneys about the grievances so that they could seek a recusal if they wished to.<\/p>\n In another case filed in September, local attorney Doris Sipes also filed a recusal request against Gonzalez. Sipes\u2019 recusal request cites that prior recusals were granted because of the bias Gonzalez had exhibited towards Sipes.<\/p>\n In December, attorney Maria Elena Grasheim filed another motion asking that Gonzalez recuse herself from Grasheim\u2019s case. According to Grasheim\u2019s filing, the animosity between her and Gonzalez began during the 2020 Democratic primary where Gonzalez was challenging the incumbent Laura Strathman for the seat currently held by Gonzalez.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/civis_polls_1.png\")
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