Hispanics in a Knot in Prince William

Many callers also mention that they have an attorney -- which was unheard of before, she added.

"They used to do it on their own. Now they say, 'my lawyer, my lawyer,' " she said. "They want to be able to know first if 'I should go over there to Public Services.' They think we're going to call immigration on them."

After the Prince William vote, county staff members were given 90 days to figure out which services could be denied to illegal immigrants lawfully. The police department has 60 days to establish how it will check residency and what constitutes probable cause.

Shari Starr, a deputy clerk for the Prince William Circuit Court, remembered listening one night to a radio program about how Loudoun wanted to follow Prince William's lead in enacting the measures. By the next morning, Starr said, the calls to her desk increased. On the other end of the line were people with Spanish accents asking how they could get married -- now.

"It was immediate," Starr said, estimating she received at least 10 such calls that first day. "My thought was, they are just scrambling to be legal so they won't be thrown out of the area."

After Congress failed to pass comprehensive immigration legislation, many immigrants think that marrying someone who is here legally is their only option for legalization, said Claudia J. Zucker, an Arlington County immigration and family lawyer, adding that this opens the door to fraudulent pairings.

"Sometimes they are honest with their attorneys, and sometimes they are not," Zucker said. "They say, 'Look, I'm getting married because I have no choice.' It's a business proposition. Some of them even use the words 'business proposition.' "

Atchuthan Sriskandarajah, an immigration lawyer with five offices in Virginia, including one in Manassas, said he would never support a fraudulent marriage. But if a couple had been in a relationship for years and were contemplating marriage, he said, he wouldn't hesitate to advise them that they should consider doing it now. In Virginia, there are no residency requirements to obtain a marriage license, and identification is needed only as a proof of age.

"We have clients that are panicking," Sriskandarajah said, adding that many are asking what will happen to them if they are stopped by police. The unease has been growing since Prince William proposed its resolution, he said. "This is coming from my clients in Prince William. It is not coming from my clients in Fairfax."

In Prince William, the number of Hispanics has ballooned in the past few decades, with the community making up more than 18 percent of the population in 2005, compared with 4.5 percent in 1990. The percentage of Hispanic students in the county's school system since 1996 has swelled from 6.6 percent to nearly one-fourth.

Teresita Jacinto, of Mexicans Without Borders and the Woodbridge Workers Committee, said the uncertainty over how the resolution will be enforced has only added to the confusion in the community.

She said she is fielding questions from mothers about how to protect their children and is saying goodbye to entire families that are relocating. Jacinto thinks there is a sociological explanation for the recent surge in nuptials.

"In a time of crisis, that kind of thing happens," she said. "People find a way to respond to their unbearable situations, and marriage can be a good thing."