You obviously don't work for gooberment
Posted on 04/18/2009 7:05:42 AM PDT by stan_sipple
ACLU Nebraska has issued warnings to five counties accused of discriminating against legal immigrants seeking marriage licenses.
The group has investigated several reports of county workers turning away Spanish speakers seeking to marry who are in the country legally but aren’t citizens, said legal director Amy Miller.
“Government employees who make up new rules based on an applicant’s skin color have no place in Nebraska,” she said Friday.
Under state law, applicants for marriage licenses must show identification verifying their name and date of birth.
However, Miller said, some counties have required other things, such as a Social Security number, a U.S.-issued photo ID card or a birth certificate that’s been translated into English.
In some cases, she said, even applicants who provided these things were turned away.
Letters were sent Friday to clerks in five of the state’s 93 counties — Dawson, Hall, Lincoln, Phelps and Platte.
In them, clerks were advised to bring their requirements for marriage-license applicants in compliance with state law — or face a lawsuit.
“Each of these counties have come up with a patchwork of requirements … targeted at keeping legal immigrants from getting married,” Miller said.
Hall County clerk Marla Conley said there are no extra requirements for immigrants. All applicants are asked to provide a valid photo ID, which could include a passport, as well as Social Security number. If they don’t have a number, they must sign an affidavit saying so.
Conley said state law doesn’t define what constitutes identification, so her office uses guidelines included in a county attorney’s opinion.
“We require the same documentation for every individual who comes up here,” she said.
Clerks in Dawson, Phelps and Lincoln counties said they had not yet read the ACLU letter and had no immediate comment.
A message left Friday for the Platte County clerk was not immediately returned.
Miller said the ACLU Nebraska investigation stemmed from complaints from two families and several immigrants’ rights advocates about the struggles facing Spanish-speaking couples who want to marry.
The complaints originated in the five counties sent warning letters.
As part of its investigation, ACLU Nebraska sent Spanish-speaking volunteers to each of those counties to apply for marriage licenses. Volunteers were sent on more than one occasion.
Miller said her group doesn’t usually do such things, but there were concerns about how the requirements varied by county and the number of counties involved.
Miller said many of the couples who were turned away were later married in Douglas County, which complies with state law.
Omaha Sen. Brad Ashford, chairman of the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee, conducted meetings across the state this fall to talk about the effects of illegal immigration on communities and on legal immigrants.
Those meetings will continue after the legislative session.
A bill signed into law this month would keep illegal immigrants from receiving public benefits, and would require any businesses with state or local government contracts to verify legal status of new hires.
Ashford said his hope has been the legislation could prevent this type of alleged discrimination against legal immigrants.
“We’ve addressed this issue on the state level, now we have to focus on whether people are being treated fairly and equitably,” he said. “There’s just too much discrimination against immigrants, especially Latinos. ... This is going to happen more and more.”
Taking the benefits away and requiring verification of legal status does not mean the state wants anyone to run roughshod over immigrants, he said.
A bill signed into law this month would keep illegal immigrants from receiving public benefits,that should take at least 30 seconds for some liberal judge to say it’s unconstitutional
more like 10!
What is the point of non U.S. citizens who, albeit, are here legally (presumably under a visa or green card), to be issued a U.S. marriage license? Just curious...
OMG !
the horror !
maybe extra tax refunds?
ACLU is pure evil direct from Satan
Why don’t they do a “two for one”, and find gay and lesbian immigrants to file lawsuits when they are denied marriage licenses? Then they can stand up for immigrant rights and homosexual marriage at the same time.
You obviously don't work for gooberment
Gotta ask the question again:
When did “hispanic” become a race?
Because they want to get married? If they’re already here legally, it isn’t for a sham marriage to get legal residency status.
Seriously, stuff like this is one of hundreds of reasons why the government should get completely out of the marriage business. Why are taxpayers forced to support armies of state and county government workers to identify and record everybody who gets “married”? And also an army of federal workers who scrutinize possible sham marriages aimed at securing legal residency status. Think about it — we’ve got government workers investigating and passing judgement on whether certain indivduals (including a citizen, in each case) are legitimately in love and planning a life together. Why should even a “legitimate” marriage (whatever that is) be an automatic ticket to legal residence in the US, for someone who wouldn’t qualify as individual?
So if they are truly legal citizens, why the heck can’t they speak English? Isn’t that one of the requirements to become a citizen? Something smells about this story....
Maybe they want to marry someone.
Hello, there is a difference between being a legal RESIDENT and being a CITIZEN. A resident isn’t required to speak English, a citizen is, though I know many who have become citizens who can barely speak it.
Why not marry in the country where one or both are citizens instead?
One ereason could be the cost of returning to the native country and then coming back to the U.S., versus the cost of a justice of the peace wedding in, say Cleveland or wherever they are living.
Another reason could be that the foreigner is marrying an American, something that does happen.
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