JURIST - Hotline: Rhode Island illegal immigration order overdue

Terry Gorman [Executive Director, Rhode Islanders for Immigration Law Enforcement]: "At a press conference on March 27,2008, Rhode Island Governor Carcieri issued an Executive Order to control rapidly escalating cost of illegal immigration in Rhode Island.

The Order requires the Executive Branch to register and use E-verify for all new hires, check the validity of Social Security numbers that are submitted and report anyone not legally present in the US. The Department of Administration shall require that all persons and businesses doing business with our state to register and use the E-verify program in order to acquire state contracts. It also requires the Rhode Island State Police, the Department of Corrections and the Parole Board to secure respective Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) to train and work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Rhode Islanders for Immigration Law Enforcement(RIILE)believes the Governor's Executive Order complies with Congress' 1996 amendment to the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), 8 U.S.C. 1373(c), and the Section 287(g) of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRAIRA), which set out the processes for the E-Verify Program which electronically verifies the legal status in the US of anyone applying for a job. It also creates a working relationship between local Law Enforcement and US Customs and Immigration Services and (USCIS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

RIILE also believes this is a long overdue GIANT step forward in controlling the burgeoning problems associated with providing social services to Illegal Aliens in our state. We estimate that between Education (10,700 English Language Learners statewide in our schools), Medical services (emergency rooms, Anchor babies,etc.) and Incarceration ($8.2 million to detain at least 225 Illegal Alien felons in our Adult Corrections Institute), the cost to the taxpayers of Rhode Island is at least $350 million. If these costs are not reigned in Rhode Island will soon have to be absorbed by Massachusetts or Connecticut as one of their counties in order to survive.

If you're carrying a 20 pound bag of potatoes on your shoulder and every 20 feet someone adds 20 additional potatoes it isn't long before you collapse under the weight. The Governor's Executive Order will prevent Rhode Island from collapsing under the weight of Illegal Aliens."