We read often with as much talent as we write - Ralph Waldo Emerson

William K. Zimmer

In 1972, while attending Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, Zimmer began working at the international border of the United States as an employee of the Detroit and Canada Tunnel Corporation, in Detroit, Michigan.  The title of his position was "tunnel guard." 

As a tunnel guard, Zimmer carried out duties of directing traffic and patrolling, on foot, the Detroit/Windsor Tunnel, which traversed the border between the United States and Canada beneath the Detroit River, and ensuring orderly lines of traffic leading to Customs and Immigration inspection booths with a badge, a flashlight and a hard hat issued by the Detroit and Canada Tunnel Corporation.


Zimmer next began working for the United States Treasury Department as a Customs Inspector in 1974.  He began attending law school at the South Texas College of Law beginning in 1980 while working full time as a Customs Inspector.

Upon graduating from law school in 1984 and becoming a licensed attorney in the State of Texas, Zimmer left the federal government in 1985 to work as an Assistant District Attorney in the 9th Judicial District of Texas, in Montgomery County, Texas.

Zimmer returned to work for the federal government in the Department of Justice in 1987 as an Assistant District Counsel in the former INS Litigation and Legal Advice unit in Houston, Texas.

Zimmer became the Deputy District Counsel in the Houston Litigation and Legal Advice unit in 1994.

In 1995, during then-President William Jefferson Clinton's administration, the late Attorney General Janet Reno appointed Zimmer as an Immigration Judge in Miami, Florida.
 
Ultimately, Zimmer transferred back to Houston, Texas to continue serving as an Immigration Judge until 2012.