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Trish Clark: Now on leave for flagging 78 marriages in 3-month period to federal immigration authorities.
State DPH associate Katie Sehi emailed this guidance to Clark in February.
(Updated) A state employee told New Haven’s official responsible for maintaining marriage records to report “suspicious” marriage license applicants to federal immigration authorities.
The registrar replied that her office was “uncomfortable” issuing licenses to “numerous” couples — before reporting at least 78 marriage licenses for non-citizen immigrants in a three-month period to the Department of Homeland Security.
That back-and-forth is documented in an email exchange from February obtained Monday by the Independent, and that led the Elicker Administration to place Registrar of Vital Statistics Patricia Clark on paid administrative leave on Nov. 30.
The mayor said last week that Clark has been put on leave as the city investigates whether or not she violated New Haven’s “welcoming city” executive order by reporting 73 out of 215 marriages involving non-citizen immigrants to federal authorities between late August and late November.
The email exchanges illustrate how New Haven’s status as a Sanctuary City — a policy meant to prevent city employees from asking about or spreading information about any constituent’s immigration status — has come into conflict with both the actual actions of city staff and guidance from the state and federal governments.
Per New Haven’s “Welcoming City” order, city employees may not “engage in activities designed to ascertain a person’s immigration status unless required by state or federal law.”
The state’s advice to contact federal immigration authorities in February emerged after the state Department of Public Health (DPH) discovered that New Haven had been requiring birth certificates from people seeking marriage licenses who are “coming from out of state or country,” as the city’s website used to state.
Katie Sehi, the health program associate at the state’s Office of Vital Records, wrote in an email to Clark on Feb. 9 that “there is no requirement to show birth certificates when they live outside CT.”
Sehi wrote, “If you are suspicious of the reason behind the marriage, you should report it, but you cannot deny the parties the license.”
She then provided contact information for Immigration Officer Ellis O’Briant, who works at United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), a division of the federal Department of Homeland Security.
Sehi did not provide specific guidance on what would constitute reasons to be “suspicious” of a marriage.
Clark did not respond to a request for comment by the time of this article’s publication. Her response to Sehi’s email at the time provides insight into at least some of what she considered to be “suspicious.”
“We have had too many couples to count requesting marriage licenses that can’t fill out the section for their parents’ names,” Clark wrote.
Clark cited encounters like those as the reason for the department’s birth certificate requirement for those “coming from” out of the city or state.
Clark wrote, “Up until this point I was not made aware that we can contact immigration for the numerous marriages that the staff is quite uncomfortable issuing.”
When asked about Clark’s statement that “staff” were “uncomfortable” issuing certain marriage licenses, City Spokesperson Lenny Speiller pointed to a statement from Mayor Justin Elicker at a Friday press conference. Elicker indicated then that “at this time, we have no reason to be believe that any other city employees were involved in any of these actions and that this is an isolated incident associated with the Registrar of Vital Statistics” and that “we have also re-emphasized to employees in the Office of Vital Statistics the requirements of employees under the Welcoming City Order.”
DPH Spokesperson: "You Should Report" Is Not A "Directive"
According to DPH spokesperson Christopher Boyle, Sehi’s email was “intended to share the contact information and was not meant as a directive to report.”
Boyle wrote in a statement that the department’s policy is that when asked how to handle suspected marriage fraud, DPH “provides the contact information” for immigration authorities, but does not actually instruct towns to make reports to immigration.
Referring to the phrase “you should report it” in Sehi’s email, Boyle wrote that “words like ‘should’ and ‘may’ have special legal meaning in statute, regulations, and official Department guidance documents. However, when used in informal communication, such as an email, these words may not carry such weight unless the writer has referenced a particular legal authority.”
Sehi did not respond to a request for comment.
Turned Away From New Haven
A snapshot of New Haven's former Vital Statistics website from July 2022.
On Feb. 9, East Haven town officials emailed concerns about New Haven’s marriage license practices to Sehi.
East Haven Town Clerk Lisa Balter wrote to Sehi that “many of the couples” interacting with the Town Clerk’s Office indicated that “they were told by New Haven to come here because New Haven is requiring Birth Certificates” for marriage licenses for some couples (specifically those from “out of state or country”). The birth certificate requirement went beyond state requirements.
Balter cited a section of New Haven’s Vital Statistics website at the time, which stated that “The Registrar has the authority to request any additional documents for identification if provided documents are unclear or questionable. Therefore, birth certificates for those coming from out of state or country are required and social security cards are recommended.”
The local policy did not specify who, exactly, would qualify as “coming from out of state or country” (or how long someone would have had to have lived in Connecticut in order to bypass this birth certificate requirement.)
Snapshots of the website saved to Archive.org’s Wayback Machine show that this policy was added to the website at some point between July 16, 2022 and Jan. 4, 2023. It remained on the website months after Sehi’s email to Clark, through at least Jun. 19, 2023.
City Health Director Maritza Bond wrote in a statement, “This language on the Office of Vital Statistics webpage was inaccurate and not authorized to be posted. We regret any confusion this may have caused residents and the language has since been updated and corrected.”
East Haven Also "Uncomfortable"
A statement from East Haven Town Attorney Michael Luzzi, first reported Sunday by the New Haven Register, indicated that “a significant number [of] marriage license applicants” came to East Haven “indicating that [they] were being turned away in New Haven because they did not possess birth certificates.”
Luzzi wrote that “some were also indicating that they were referred directly to East Haven.” (In Clark’s later email to Sehi, she stated, “We have not actually sent anyone to East Haven or any other town specifically.”)
“As the number of referrals grew, our town clerk was doing her job and, most professionally, performing her due diligence, when she sought out clarification on this issue (and the reported circumstances) from Katie Sehi,” wrote Luzzi. “While we understand that some form of an investigation has commenced in New Haven, we have not been contacted.”
In Balter’s email to Sehi, she indicated that she had also asked a DHS immigration officer for advice on non-citizen marriages.
“Ellis O’Briant, Immigration Officer from the Department of Homeland Security specifically told me not to discourage applicants, as they need to build a case,” she wrote. “My employees are uncomfortable with these Licenses as it is, and asking why we can not follow suite with New Haven.”
The Emails In Question
From: Sehi, Kathleen <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, February 9, 2023 3:56 PM To: Patricia Clark <[email protected]> Cc: Gauthier, Yvette <[email protected]>; East Haven VR-Lisa ([email protected]) <[email protected]> Subject: FW: East Haven marriages Importance: High
Please be cautious
This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
Hi Trish,
I just wanted to remind you that in order to issue a marriage license, you only need photo ID of the individuals applying. There is no requirement to show birth certificates when they live outside CT. If the parties don’t have photo ID then according to the handbook, that is when you would request two other forms of identifications such as a birth certificate and SS card (per the town clerks manual).
If you are suspicious of the reason behind the marriage, you should report it, but you cannot deny the parties the license. Here is the specific information about contacting our local Immigration officer as sent to me by Hans from Passport Services. Officer O’Briant is located in Hartford.
You may recommend the following contact at CIS Fraud Deterrence and National Security to the Town Clerks when they encounter suspect marriage overtures and other irregularities that would relate to immigration benefits:
Immigration Officer Ellis O’Briant 860/728‑2323 [email protected]
When referring the cases, it is important to prepare a PDF of the license worksheet, the typed marriage certificate (if the process gets that far), photocopies of each party’s identification (front and back) and description of the encounter. When a foreign passport is presented, it is important to capture the US visa in addition to the biographic page.
Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I will do my best to direct you.
Thanks, Katie
Katie Sehi
Katie Sehi
Health Program Associate
Office of Vital Records
CT-Department of Public Health
410 Capitol Avenue, MS#11VRS
Hartford, CT 06106
Phone: 860 – 509-7960
Fax: 860 – 509-7964
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From: Patricia Clark <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, February 9, 2023 5:12 PM To: Sehi, Kathleen <[email protected]> Cc: Gauthier, Yvette <[email protected]>; Lisa Balter <[email protected]> Subject: RE: East Haven marriages
Thank you for this.
We have not actually sent anyone to East Haven or any other town specifically. We have asked for ID as outlined on our site, which was cut & pasted below.
We have had too many couples to count requesting marriage licenses that can’t fill out the section for their parents’ names. Which is why we asked for birth certificates for those coming from out of state or country.
Up until this point I was not made aware that we can contact immigration for the numerous marriages that the staff is quite uncomfortable issuing. I was under the impression that the registrar reserved the right to ask for more identification documents when necessary. We deemed it necessary to do so. But we can follow the immigration steps outlined below as well.
Happy to discuss this further as needed.
Stay well,
Trish
Patricia Clark
Registrar of Vital Statistics
(w) 203 – 946-8263 / (f) 203 – 946-7717
Office of Vital Statistics
A Division of the New Haven Health Department
165 Church Street, Suite 154
New Haven, CT 06510
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Find more of the emails exchanged between East Haven town officials and the state here.
Correction: A previous version of this article cited city statements that Clark reported 73 out of 215 marriages between citizens and non-citizens to immigration services. On Dec. 14, the Elicker administration clarified that Clark actually reported 78 out 215 total marriages as issued by the vital statistics office between late August and late November.
Playing this out in the press is all about Elicker virtue signaling and trying to raise his public profile outside of New Haven.