The practice, however, is being condemned by immigration advocates and clergy, who say city clerks with no authority or training in immigration law are fouling up genuine betrothals and doing nothing against terrorism.
"There's no issue of national security involved," said the Rev. Thomas Betz, director of the Philadelphia Archdiocese Office for Pastoral Care for Migrants and Refugees. "This is really an anti-immigrant thing."
Local immigration and FBI officials tentatively welcomed the effort but questioned the clerks' training and effectiveness.
And now, an unknown number of couples are trekking to such suburban locales as Media, West Chester and Norristown to make their nuptials official, hoping to avoid either the hassle of the identity check or the risk of being exposed as illegal and denied a marriage license.
"It's just a marriage license!" said Mely, 24, an Indonesian newlywed and illegal alien who asked that her last name not be printed. She and her husband, also an illegal alien, got a Delaware County license after being rejected in Philadelphia.
"Why does it have to be so difficult? We have no connection to Sept. 11," Mely said.
Donatucci's rule appears to be unique nationwide, but it does mirror scattered efforts by other local administrators.
Motor-vehicle officials in several states, including Pennsylvania and New Jersey, have tightened rules on issuing drivers' licenses to foreign nationals. Schoolchildren of undocumented immigrants in Virginia have faced delays in getting registered for class. Local police in Florida are being deputized to check immigration papers.
"The issue [is] the extent to which officials are trying to localize federal immigration enforcement," said H. Ronald Klasko, a Philadelphia lawyer and former president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. "Marriage is the next side of this."
