New Immigration Law Leads Couples To The Altar Confused By New Rules That Take Effect Tuesday, Many Buy Marriages To Stay In United States
Lali’s engagement to the quiet man with cheerless eyes and a farmer’s earth-stained hands was sudden.
Within 24 hours, they met, made a business deal - he promised her $2,500 for three months of marriage - and went for a marriage license.
When the clerk at the Yakima County auditor’s office asked for the man’s birth date, Lali had to ask him in Spanish.
“Place of birth?” Again, Lali needed to ask. Morelia, Mexico was the answer.
Afterward, the 20-year old Lali - a U.S. citizen by birth - said she agreed to the hasty union because she needed the money.
She was also worried that the man would be deported under new immigration rules that take effect Tuesday. The man, an undocumented immigrant, is a friend of her family.
“I think it’s obvious what I’m doing here,” whispered Lali, who declined to give her last name, in the courthouse hallway. “Who knows? If we like each other, maybe we’ll stay married.”
Since Feb. 24, the auditor’s office has issued more than 280 marriage licenses, up from 125 for the same period last year.
There have been days this month when District Court judges have performed a marriage ceremony every half-hour.
“This is one of the most bizarre things we’ve seen around here in a long time,” said Doug Cochran, county auditor. “There’s got to be some kind of organized effort going on here.”
Cochran thinks the surge may be due to fear and confusion about the new Illegal Immigration Reform and Responsibility Act of 1996.
The Clinton administration attempted Wednesday to clear up confusion about the new law amid reports that illegal immigrants were rushing into marriage and many feared mass deportations.
The Immigration and Naturalization Service estimates there are 52,000 undocumented aliens in Washington state.
Some illegal immigrants apparently believe they won’t be allowed to marry after April 1. Others have heard that tying the knot with a U.S. citizen will stave off deportation.
Immigration officials say the new rules don’t change legalization policies for illegal immigrants married to legal U.S. residents or citizens.
Once a couple marries, the U.S. citizen may apply to have the spouse legalized. Within a few months, an INS agent interviews the couple. If the marriage is determined to be legitimate, the undocumented spouse is granted temporary residency, conditional on another interview in two years.
If the couple is still together after two years, the immigrant can attain permanent residency and apply for citizenship three years later.
“Getting married to avoid being deported is still not a valid marriage. It’s a felony,” said INS spokeswoman Irene Mortensen.
Getting caught could mean jail for one party and deportation for the other.
Under the new law, it will be easier for the INS to deport illegal immigrants unless they can prove deportation would result in “exceptional and unusual hardship” to a relative who is a citizen or legal permanent resident.
But marrying a U.S. citizen won’t necessarily prevent deportation, Mortensen said.
Changes also include stiffer criminal penalties for immigration-related offenses, increased enforcement and stepped-up enforcement authority.
Guadalupe Gamboa, state director of United Farm Workers of Washington, said his group is trying to ease concerns in Yakima County about the new INS rules.
“We’re telling them it’s not going to be the end of the world,” Gamboa said. “Some families are half legal, half not legal. They’re worried that April 1 means they’re going to be separated.”
When asked if she knew about the INS’s two-year marriage requirement for residency, Lali looked puzzled and even a little scared.
No, she said. Still, it won’t change her mind.
“I got the money up front.”
She knows of three other women who have made the same arrangements. One got $4,000, she said.
Lali’s wedding will be held sometime before Tuesday.
“I hope I don’t have to kiss him … I just want to give him a hug,” Lali said.