Crackdown on illegal aliens...

Crackdown on illegal immigrants


By Karen Lee Ziner
The Providence Journal, March 28, 2008

Providence -- Governor Carcieri yesterday signed a six-point executive order he said will enable “a vast array of state government agencies” to address illegal immigration in Rhode Island.

He said he did so because the federal government has dropped the ball on immigration reform and left state taxpayers to pick up what he said are the considerable costs of illegal immigration.

During a sometimes contentious news conference, the governor said he knew he was tackling “a difficult, sensitive issue,” and one that “stirs great emotion.”

“This is not about taking a hard line against immigrants,” said Carcieri. “It’s about making sure that those who come here can realize their goals of economic security and a better quality of life.” Harking to his own immigrant roots, the governor said he supports people who follow legal channels to realize the American Dream.

“The motive is to get control of an issue that has to be dealt with,” he said. “If you’re here illegally, you shouldn’t be here.”

The measure will require state agencies and vendors to verify the legal status of all employees; allow the state to inform people whose identity has been stolen; and directs Rhode Island State Police and Department of Corrections to work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement “to ensure federal immigration law is enforced.” The agreements between the state police and the DOC have yet to be worked out.

“Unfortunately, over the last few decades, the federal government has consistently ignored the complex issue of illegal immigration,” said Carcieri. “As a result, the flow of illegal immigrants has become epidemic, with the consequential costs being borne by state taxpayers.”

The governor said the Pew Hispanic Center currently estimates there are 40,000 illegal immigrants in Rhode Island, more, he noted, “than the population of most of our state’s cities and towns. This puts a tremendous strain upon our public schools, hospitals, state and local human-services organizations and law enforcement agencies.”

Reaction was immediate. “We’re ecstatic that the governor put this executive order out,” said Terry Gorman, president of Rhode Islanders for Immigration Law Enforcement. RIILE seeks curbs on illegal immigration and supports holding the immigrant population at current levels.

Gorman said he was among several dozen RIILE members at the news conference who cheered Carcieri when he entered the room. Gorman said similar measures in other states are causing “illegals to leave these states in droves.”

“Terrific. I think it’s fantastic,” said Rep. Peter Palumbo, D-Cranston, one of a number of legislators the governor invited because of anti-illegal immigration bills they’ve introduced. “Basically, at one point it sounded like he was reading right from my legislation — from the Taxpayer and Citizens Protection Act that I’m going to testify to in my committee.”

On the other side, Sen. Juan Pichardo, D-Providence, called Carcieri’s executive order “a nightmare.”

“Are people now going to take the law into their own hands? He didn’t answer that when he was asked,” said Pichardo. Rather than tamping “the heated rhetoric” on this issue, the governor “has increased the fear among the immigrant community — among both documented and undocumented immigrants,” and served to “more deeply entrench the encampments on both sides of this issue.”

Steven Brown, executive director of the Rhode Island Affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union, predicted that the governor’s executive order “is only going to increase the problem of racial profiling in the state. The governor can ignore all the data and statistics out there that document the problem that already exists, but this executive order will only exacerbate it, to the detriment of any person in Rhode Island who looks and speaks a certain way. This has nothing to do with whether anyone is legal or illegal — his order is going to affect everyone based on their national origin, color of their skin and their accent and it’s very unfortunate.”

Carcieri was flanked by a host of state agency directors, a representative of ICE, and legislators. He said he supports the concepts proposed in bills to curb illegal immigration, and noted that a bill has been submitted on his behalf that will deny workers’ compensation to illegal immigrants, and impose a penalty on companies that knowingly hire unauthorized workers.

The room was packed with members of immigrant advocacy and civil-liberties groups, as well as dozens of RIILE members.

Several times, Carcieri lashed out at members of the media, accusing them of inflammatory rhetoric.

When Providence Journal political columnist M. Charles Bakst asked Carcieri, “Don’t you understand, however good your motives are, it stirs things up?” against both legal and illegal immigrants, Carcieri replied, “What stirs [things] up is what you write. The language you use and others in the media are what inflames this issue. You use the right language and we can get a lot more balanced discussion on this. You’re the ones who are responsible.”

Carcieri said his intent was not — as was suggested — to create “some sort of dragnet.”

“There is nothing in this that is intended to supersede any laws or do anything that’s illegal. From the state’s perspective, this is only about putting in place processes and procedures we already have, to enable authorities to deal with these issues.”

He said whatever costs there would be “are insignificant,” compared to “the impact on the states across the country, including ours.”

One reporter asked, “So state police won’t be stopping people because they look Hispanic?’

Carcieri replied, “No, that’s not what they do. They stop people for other reasons and in the process if they find they’re illegal, then they’ll have a process, that’s all.”

He drew quiet snickers after a reporter from a Hispanic radio station told Carcieri he was from the press.

“Oh, what press?” Carcieri asked the reporter –— Tony Mendez of Poder 1110 AM. When some people laughed, Carcieri said, “I’m just asking him, all right?”

Senator Pichardo afterwards called that “the very example of how easy it is to fall into racial profiling.”

The executive order includes six provisions:

* The Department of Administration will register and use a federal government program — E-Verify — to electronically verify that all executive branch employees are legally eligible to work in the United States.

* The department will require all companies doing business with the state to also use the E-Verify program to ensure their employees are legally authorized to work in the country.

* State agencies have the authority to notify persons whose identity was stolen or used improperly to receive benefits such as child care, health care or a driver’s license.

* Rhode Island State Police will establish a Memorandum of Agreement with the federal Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement to receive training to assist ICE personnel in arresting illegal immigrants. The new partnership will allow state police with ICE training to access federal databases, process immigration prisoners and transport them to the federal Wyatt Detention Center.

* The state Department of Corrections will similarly develop a memorandum of agreement with ICE. In part, it will allow ACI personnel to investigate immigration status of prisoners and prepare necessary documentation for those found to be in the country illegally.

* The Parole Board and corrections department “will work cooperatively with ICE personnel” to provide for parole and deportation of criminal aliens.

Carcieri said the latter agreement “will speed up deportation by getting these inmates back to their respective countries in a more timely fashion,” and eliminate “the financial burden of providing housing or rehab treatment to these nonviolent inmates.”

How those will work remains up in the air. According to the ICE Web site, memorandums of agreement are tailored to each agency.

State Police Maj. Steven G. O’Donnell said that agreement, once forged, “will help us be better trained, and have a better understanding of what to do in a situation when it’s presented on the street. It’s a more definitive role we’ll play. It will cut out any miscommunications, any mistakes.”

“We are not going to businesses and places of employment looking for people. That’s not our role. We focus more on criminal aliens — those who are in the country illegally, committing crimes,” O’Donnell said. “We understand it’s a volatile issue but that’s our opinion — whatever is illegal … we can’t turn our backs on it. On the flip side, we could be found criminally or civilly liable for failure to act.”



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