Immigration Law
Lawyer’s Quest to Marry Results in Nashville Policy Change on Immigrants
Posted May 27, 2008, 06:53 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
A county clerk in Nashville is allowing illegal immigrants to marry after a state attorney general’s opinion last week that sided with a lawyer seeking to marry a man without a Social Security number.
The lawyer, Vanessa Saenz, had filed a suit in federal court saying she was denied the "fundamental right to marry the man of her choice,” the Tennessean reports. The suit says a state policy requiring Social Security numbers for marriage licenses denies those who can’t obtain the numbers the equal protection of the law.
Tennessee had required Social Security numbers to make it easier to track parents who failed to pay child support.
Clerk John Arriola of Davidson County said he personally had opposed the state law. "Personally, I think anyone should be able to marry,” he told the newspaper.
Immigration lawyer Linda Rose told the Tennessean that the policy change “is a very big deal.” She said the attorney general’s ruling will allow immigrants who overstay their visa to marry, apply for an adjustment in their immigration status, and remain here while the government considers the request.
Those who have entered the country illegally would still be deported and would be barred from re-entering the country for 10 years, she said. Their new American spouses could seek a waiver, but it would be granted only in cases of extreme hardship.
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