Thread: Tennessee says illegal immigrants can marry

Heard of this on the Gill Report radion in TN. Get yer barfbag

Davidson no longer will bar licenses
By JANELL ROSS • Staff Writer • May 24, 2008

For the first time in a decade, immigration status won't stop couples from obtaining marriage licenses in Davidson County and marrying anywhere in Tennessee. Counties across the state could follow suit depending on the outcome of the Nashville case that sparked the policy change.

Davidson County Clerk John Arriola switched direction Thursday after a state attorney general's opinion sided with a couple who sued him for refusing to issue a marriage license based on the prospective groom's lack of documents. Since at least 1998, county clerks in Tennessee asked for a Social Security card, or, failing in that, a valid passport and visa.


"This is a very big deal," Nashville immigration lawyer Linda Rose said. "This is very good news for the immigrant community because now it restores a fundamental right. … It gives due respect and credit to the institution of marriage."

Federal judges in Ohio and Pennsylvania have ruled that marriage is a fundamental right that cannot be available to just those able to prove they're in the United States legally. Some concerned about the growth of illegal immigration in Tennessee say the change could invite more of it.

At the heart of the Tennessee case is Nashville lawyer Vanessa Saenz, a U.S. citizen who filed a civil suit in Nashville's U.S. District Court against Gov. Phil Bredesen and Arriola on April 21. The suit claims Saenz was denied her "fundamental right to marry the man of her choice under color of state law." It claims citizens trying to marry people who can't possibly obtain Social Security numbers are being denied equal protection under the law.

Suit doesn't seek money
The suit seeks to bar the Davidson county clerk from requesting Social Security numbers or valid visas from marriage license applicants. It doesn't seek monetary compensation and doesn't name Saenz's fiance or describe his immigration status, his current whereabouts or his native country.

"There are a lot of people whose futures are at stake," said Saenz, who declined to discuss the case or her fiance.

In light of the attorney general's opinion, issued last week, and Arriola's policy change, a federal judge on Friday ruled there's nothing standing in the way of Saenz's wedding and denied a request for a hearing. Saenz's attorney, George Barrett, filed a motion for more time to fight the governor's motion to dismiss.

Multiple state and federal courts have upheld that the government can't bar a person from marrying simply because they or their partner are a member of some specific group, said James Blumstein, a Constitutional law professor at Vanderbilt University.

"There was a case rather appropriately called Loving v. Virginia that settled that matter," Blumstein said about the 1967 U.S. Supreme Court case that struck down laws barring interracial couples from marrying.

He said the government has to prove a marriage it opposes would have a negative impact on the country.

Tennessee's old policy was enacted a decade ago as part of a federal initiative to make it easier to track parents who failed to pay child support. The then-Tennessee attorney general issued an opinion endorsing the Social Security number requirement.

Arriola following the law
Arriola, elected clerk in 2006, said he never wanted to turn couples away over immigration-related paperwork. "That was the state law, and I was obligated to uphold it," he said. "Personally, I think anyone should be able to marry."

He predicted a spike in marriage license applications once couples heard about the policy change, but it was quiet Friday inside the back room of the Davidson County Clerk's Office where couples come to complete marriage license paperwork. Only the department's employees and its Web site signaled there was any change at all.

Arriola said he is a friend of the Rev. Joseph Breen, pastor of St. Edward Catholic Church, who pressured him for years about the law. Last year, St. Edward coordinated a trip for 20 mostly Hispanic couples to obtain marriage licenses and legally wed in Kentucky, where clerks don't require immigration-related paperwork. Breen then married them in the church when they returned.

"Truly, everybody should have the right to get married, and the state should not have any rules or regulations against that," Breen said. "What we've been doing here is a real shame. So we wanted to help these couples."

Theresa Harmon, co-founder of Tennesseans for Responsible Immigration Policy, said she worries Davidson County's new policy will draw illegal immigrants to Tennessee from surrounding states and make it harder to deport them. She plans to talk to lawmakers about overriding it.

"Marriage is a human right, and I believe in families," she said. "But I've had to do some hard soul-searching on these kinds of issues.

"Marriage licenses are just going to be another way to legitimize people who aren't supposed to be here in the first place."

Rose, the immigration lawyer, said the ruling could help immigrants who enter the country legally but overstay their visas. They can marry, apply for an adjustment in their immigration status and remain in the country while the government considers the request.

Immigrants who enter the country illegally and marry U.S. citizens could still be deported or, if they wanted to adjust their immigration status, would have to go back to their home countries, apply for a visa and be barred from returning for 10 years. Their American spouses can apply for a waiver to the ban, but only cases of extreme hardship are approved, Rose said.

Contact Janell Ross at 726-5982 or jross1@tennessean.com.

OOPS! I misread.

Illegal immigrants may be able to marry but at the same time, the state may be allowed to require any documents they deem necessary to issue a license. The state sets the standard and requirements to receive a marriage license. Same for drivers licenses.

Let the illegals go to church and get married without a license, or they can go home and get married. They can get married, but I don't think the state should be forced to issue a marriage document that can be used as ID like a driver's license.

No licenses, No permits, No contracts... means no make-believe citizenship and less fraud being perpetrated by using said documents.

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I'll tell you this about illegal aliens and their attorneys, if they want something and they are pushing for it, there is a reason beyond the surface and something more sinister is to come. For instance, if a Social Security number is required to register to vote in TN, which is also state issued registration, then why not remove that requirement? You did it for the marriage license.

See the motive? A later lawsuit will be filled jusing case law saying no SS is required for a marriage license, so why is one required for voting.

Also, that marriage license may be used as proof of something that they want, like welfare, Income Tax refunds... There's a bigger payoff than just getting hitched. It's the foot in the door for something else. I just don't know what it is and these states better figure that out before they start allowing them to get married or it could be a very costly mistake.

Consider the the Dream Act people, they want an education but they still can't work here. They just want a worthless document? Right!

This marriage license business is just a stepping stone to something else.

Dixie

(Mod edit)

Dixie has seen past the intention of this decision. It is merely an open door to other reasons to by pass the requirement for social security numbers or other means of identification. Tennessee keeps repeating these mistakes just like the drivers licensing to illegal aliens. A flood of illegal aliens with many never leaving Tennessee and crime and fraud resulted. Now, how many marriages might these people have with how many different names and how many free benefits and services etc.

Romans 5:8

When is our Governor going to learn from past mistakes? He's way too soft on illegals and won't fight for us!

This story was just brought to my attention this morning.
In February the town just 15 minutes from me was devistated by a tornado. I lost a good friend among 14 other residents. One of the "residents" from Mexico received a trailer from FEMA, and receives checks from them for funeral expences, etc. His (American) wife was killed. He lives in Mexico also, and has a wife there. He has not paid for the funeral, (her family had to!) or helped out the family in any way.

Others have written to The Tennessean.
I intend to write to Governor Bredesen, and FEMA and demand they check this guy out!

Things are sure backwards and he sure seems to be the beneficiary of all of our backwardness.

Governor Bredesen has done nothing to stem the tide of illegal immigration and the Attorney General has opinions that result in harm to the citizens of Tennessee.

Romans 5:8

The question is this: What documents are needed to get married in the US? If IA's have no documents, how will they be able to get married?

When I got married I had to provide my birth certificate (translated into English), baptismal certificate (also translated into English), AND CITIZENSHIP paper. I don't remember is I had to show my SS card. If all these documents are required from citizens and legal immigrants, how in the HELL are IAs allowed to get married in the US???