Judge won't oversee naturalization events after telling people at US citizenship ceremony they 'need to go to another country' if they object to Trump's presidency

  • Magistrate Judge John Primomo made the remark when he presided over the ceremony in San Antonio, Texas, on Thursday
  • He said: 'If you are a citizen of the United State, he is your president'
  • Primomo added: 'He will be your president and if you do not like that, you need to go to another country' 

By Associated Press and Zoe Szathmary For Dailymail.com

Published: 15:42 EST, 22 November 2016 | Updated: 17:31 EST, 22 November 2016

A federal magistrate judge in San Antonio who told people at a citizenship swearing-in ceremony that they 'need to go to another country' if they object to Donald Trump's presidency will no longer preside over such events.

Orlando Garcia, the chief judge for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, said Tuesday that district judges on Monday agreed to bar Magistrate Judge John Primomo from handling such proceedings.

District court judges are responsible for overseeing and appointing magistrate judges.

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Magistrate Judge John Primomo (second from right) was filmed at citizenship ceremony saying that people 'need' to leave the United States if they don't like the fact the next president will be Donald Trump

Garcia told the Huffington Post: 'It's very uncharacteristic. Johnny Primomo actually is a good judge and good man. I don’t know what led him to do this. 

'This has never happened before. Otherwise we certainly would have heard about it.'

He told the website: 'We had a very frank discussion and he readily agreed that it was a poor choice of words and he readily accepted the fact that he would no longer be handling these proceedings and that was the end of that.'

Primomo made the remark when he presided over the ceremony at the Institute of Texan Cultures in San Antonio, Texas, on Thursday, KENS reported. 

Primomo said: 'I can assure you that whether you voted for him or you did not vote for him, if you are a citizen of the United State, he is your president.

'He will be your president and if you do not like that, you need to go to another country.'

Primomo (seen in a Facebook photo) said of Trump: 'He will be your president and if you do not like that, you need to go to another country'

According to KENS, Primomo also talked Thursday about NFL players kneeling during the national anthem.

He reportedly said: 'I detest that, because you can protest things that happen in this country; you have every right to.

'You don't do that by offending national symbols like the national anthem and the flag of the United States.' 

President-elect Donald Trump is pictured in New York City on Tuesday

He told KENS that his words were meant to be unifying and respectful of the president's office, not political. He added he didn't vote for Trump. 

Primomo has said he wasn't trying to tell the new Americans at Thursday's ceremony to leave if they didn't like Trump. 

He told the San Antonio Express-News 'I wasn't trying to say anything for or against Donald Trump. 

'I was just trying to say something hopeful and unifying, and unfortunately it was taken out of context.'  

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