Rhode Island: Doing Jobs the Federal Government Won’t Do
[Guest post by DRJ]
Yesterday, Rhode Island’s Governor Carcieri announced a six-point executive order to address illegal immigration because the federal government won’t:
“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.
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“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.”
The Governor said the first focus will be to deport criminal aliens:
““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.”
Remind you of something? I’m thinking Deport the Criminals First.
— DRJ