'You are vile!' Judge accused of using ICE threats to terrify truant teens

The 13-page complaint released Tuesday includes transcripts of court proceedings overseen by the now-former judge, Britt J. Simon, who was a municipal judge for Bound Brook, Bridgewater, Somerville, and Raritan Borough. It accuses Simon of violating the judicial conduct code by repeatedly threatening the children and using language that created the appearance of bias.

“Your mother’s going to get deported. You are going to end your mother’s life. You want other people involved in your family business? Your mother came to this country to get a better life,” he told one 16-year-old last August, the complaint says.

In January, eight days after President Donald Trump took office for his second term, Simon told a 14-year-old that “there’s a new sheriff in town” and that the courts were a “great place” to find people facing deportation.

“You think I’m kidding? The ICE officials wait outside the door for people like you,” Simon said.

Simon has been suspended from his judicial duties since Feb. 11. The state Supreme Court’s advisory committee on judicial conduct filed the formal complaint against him Monday.

Simon’s attorney did not return a request for comment.

The complaint includes details on three truancy cases overseen by Simon. It says he raised his voice, scolded the children in his courtroom, addressed them without a municipal prosecutor present, and roped in their parents for additional scoldings.

On Aug. 13, 2024, he told the 16-year-old that he’s going to be “a beggar, piece of garbage” because he doesn’t go to school. He then asked the student if his mom had legal documentation to be in the United States, to which the student said no.

“So you want to call attention to the school truant officer — two officers sitting here — that you get law enforcement involves (sic) in your lives. Don’t you? So your mother can get picked up and deported by ICE. That sound like a great idea? You’re a wonderful son. I say sarcastically because you’re not,” Simon told the teenager. “You are vile and contemptuous. You want your mother to get deported? You know what’s going to happen if she does, right?”

Simon then said he’d refer the student’s case to child protective services, adding that those workers may report his mother and “at some point, ICE is going to come and pick her up, all because of you.”

“You don’t be late. I am not kidding you. Look at your mother, get ready to say goodbye to her,” Simon said.

In another case that day involving a high school girl who was late to school every day and eventually stopped attending, Simon again turned his attention to her mother’s immigration status (the mother confirmed to Simon that she was not in the country legally).

“How are you going to feel when the law enforcement comes to the house — ICE comes to the house because they get reported this and they deport your mother because of you?” he told the girl.

On Jan. 28, Simon presided over the case of a 14-year-old girl who missed 67 of the previous 91 days of school. In this case, both the student and her parent were undocumented.

“You’re about to get plucked up by the ICE officials and sent back to El Salvador. Do you want to go there?” Simon asked the girl.

“No,” she responded.

“You miss another day for school and I’m going to personally have ICE here to pick you up,” Simon told her.