At the end of the day, judges are just people. That means some of them will, inevitably, be sh*tty people. Judges! They’re just like us!
Take the recent case of Alexander Parker and Krisha Schmick, high school sweethearts who went to the courthouse in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania to get married. Instead of, you know, marrying the couple, Judge Elizabeth Beckley called Immigration and Customs Enforcement because she didn’t believe Parker was in the country legally. Yes, he had identification from the Guatemalan Consulate, she just refused to believe it for reasons that are likely tinged with all sorts of racial stereotypes.
As reported by Newsweek:
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“I didn’t have my Green Card yet, so I gave them the I.D. I had been given and they took it back to the judge and next thing I know a constable is coming out and telling me he needs to detain me because I.D. didn’t look real,” Alexander told Newsweek.
“I tried to tell them it wasn’t fake and that it was issued from the Guatemalan Consulate but they wouldn’t believe me and told me I wasn’t allowed to go anywhere or leave the building until I could show proof,” he added.
So, let’s get this straight: court officials don’t trust the perfectly valid identification Parker presented, so he can’t leave the building until he can show proof of legal residency. How’s he supposed to produce that documentation WITHOUT BEING ABLE TO LEAVE?? Wiggle his nose and hope it appears?
Though it seems like a Catch-22, Schmick played the role of good financée and left the courthouse to get additional documentation. But rather than wait until Schmick returned with the paperwork, Judge Beckley decided to go ahead and call ICE. Fortunately, the ICE agents were able to confirm Parker’s identity and immigration status.
Eventually, ICE officers were able to verify that Alexander was, in fact, in the country legally and “apologized for having to come out to do this.”
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When ICE is the voice of reason you know you’re in the sh*tter.
Once she was proven wrong, Judge Beckley showed the smallest modicum of human decency and actually apologized to Parker and Schmick. The judge also offered to do her actual goddamn job and marry the pair. They decided to go ahead with the wedding since they had family in from out of town to witness what should have been an uncomplicated happy celebration.
“At the end of the day, I was happy we were married, but it never should have happened the way it did,” Krisha said. “We were trying literally just to get married and they brought in the ICE agents,” she added.
Yeah, no kidding. This is just awful. Plus Schmick says she and her new husband have been contacted by a lawyer representing another couple alleging that Judge Beckley called ICE on their wedding day too. Unfortunately, in the other case, the groom and best man were reportedly detained by ICE.
Kathryn Rubino is an editor at Above the Law. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).