Boing Boing
If you want to erode the public's trust in the legal system, making a court house an unsafe place to be, even during what's supposed to be a joyful occasion, is a great place to start. Just ask Alexander Parker and Krisha Schmick: They went to a courthouse in Pennsylvania, intent on getting married. The pair had known one another since high school and it seemed like the right time. There was just one problem – Alexander's skin was brown and the judge he and his bride were to stand before was a raging bigot.
According to Newsweek, when Parker and Schmick stood before Judge Elizabeth Beckley in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, instead of presiding over their wedding ceremony, she called Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agents to check out Parker.
Parker, originally from Guatemala, was adopted by American parents and brought to the United States when he was eight months old – he is legally allowed to be in the country. He has the paperwork to prove it, too. But for some reason, maybe because, I dunno, HE WAS GETTING MARRIED, he forgot the official documents that proved his right to be in the country at home. All he had on him was a Guatemalan identification card. Court staff, believing for some reason that the document was a fake, contacted ICE to check Parker out.
On his wedding day, when he should have been exchanging vows, Parker was answering questions. Instead of having a ring slipped on his finger, he was forced to provide fingerprints. A honeymoon with his wife? Nah: ICE warned that if he could not prove that he was in the country legally, he'd be whisked away to a detention center.
As it turns out, ICE was able to verify that Parker was cool to be in the country. They apologized to him. Good enough! It gets better: once Judge Beckley was sure that Parker was allowed to be in the country, brown or not, she offered to continue with the wedding ceremony. Parker and Schmick, still traumatized by what had just happened to them, decided to accept: they'd had relatives come in from out of state to attend the wedding.
Now, you could argue that the judge was just doing her job: She didn't have any proof that Parker had the right to be in the country. As a representative of the state of Pennsylvania, she was obligated to do so.
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