Hispanics in a Knot in Prince William

Immigrants Fearful About Crackdown Pursuing Marriage

They were children in Guatemala when they met -- 10-year-olds who hadn't heard of Manassas or Prince William County or Virginia.

But somehow, more than 15 years later, life had brought them here: standing on the empty second floor of Prince William's courthouse, getting married. There was no white dress, no bouquet and no family other than their 1-year-old daughter.

All of that could wait, the couple said, but the marriage couldn't.

"We don't know what's going to happen later," the groom, Elvis Jimenez, 26, of Manassas, said in Spanish. "We heard that people without Social Security cards wouldn't be able to marry soon."

Since Prince William approved a resolution last month to root out illegal immigrants, officials say, calls from Hispanics wanting quick civil marriages have increased, a sign of growing desperation and fear. Immigration lawyers and community activists say many undocumented immigrants could be turning to matrimony as a route to legal status or choosing to tie the knot before the county starts denying public services to those who are here illegally.

In Herndon and in Loudoun County, which have large Hispanic populations and have pushed measures against illegal immigration, officials said they have not seen a sudden increase in marriages. Nor have clerks in Montgomery and Prince George's counties in Maryland. The Prince William resolution is the toughest in the state, directing police to check immigration status and seeking to deny public benefits to illegal immigrants.

Elvis and Marcia Jimenez said that they had been planning to get married but that they finally made the decision after hearing media reports that Prince William would soon deny the service of civil marriage to illegal immigrants. Although Marcia, a waitress, is a legal resident, Elvis, a painter, is undocumented.

Illegal immigrants do not automatically gain lawful status by marrying legal residents, but marriage allows them to apply through their spouses for legal standing.

"He's the head of this family," Marcia Jimenez said, holding their daughter, Daniela, and adding that she doesn't know what they would do if he was deported.

Maria Ramirez works for the county's Public Services Division, which handles marriage licenses, and is one of four people the county lists as a Spanish-speaking civil celebrant, a person authorized to officiate weddings. She performed the Jimenez nuptials.

Before the Board of County Supervisors passed the immigration measures by a unanimous vote July 10, Ramirez estimated that she was handling about 10 ceremonies a week. Now, she said, the number is as high as 20. The phone calls to her office also have increased, with many callers asking about identification requirements, such as whether they need to furnish a Social Security card.

"People are getting scared," Ramirez said.