THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

Who knew that individual counties in Alabama has the power to interpret state laws according to their own wishes and desires?

It is unclear when the practice started, but for years certain counties in Alabama have been refusing to provide undocumented immigrants with marriage licenses. Since the early 2000s, attorneys general and federal judges across the U.S. have stated that denying an undocumented immigrant a marriage license violates a couple’s “fundamental right to marry” as outlined in the U.S. Constitution.

Samuel Brooke, a staff attorney at the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) who works on the center's Immigrant Justice Project, said the purpose of asking for identification is “to make sure that the person being married, that their name and identification, that their legal name is being recorded correctly, and that is the only real purpose.”

In 2011, when Brooke first heard that some Alabama counties were requiring “proof of lawful immigration status” in order to issue marriage licenses, he was shocked. It was the same year that Alabama passed House Bill 56, one of the toughest anti-immigration laws in the nation.

“This law had everything in it,” Brooke said. “But the one thing this law said was, don't touch marriage licenses. We recognize that marriage is a fundamental right for all people; we recognize anyone should be able to get married. It doesn't matter their immigration status or their history, they should be able to get married as long as they provide their legal name.”

In fact, for more than a decade, attorneys general across the country, including in Alabama, have made a focused effort to be clear on the issue of what is required to apply for a marriage license. In 2008, then-Alabama Attorney General Troy King said applicants should not have to provide photo ID or a Social Security number. Instead, those without a Social Security number could present a signed affidavit that they had never been issued one.

I guess those rednecks just got nullification in their blood.