Rhode Island slashes restrictions on illegal immigrants

[pampango]

As Alabama and Arizona embrace harsh new immigration laws, the state of Rhode Island is going the other way.

Governor Lincoln D. Chafee, who took office in January, has dismantled Rhode Island’s vigorous campaign against illegal immigration in recent months, ditching the E-verify system for checking workers’ status, revoking the State Police’s authority to enforce federal immigration laws, and leading a campaign that last week granted in-state tuition to unauthorized immigrants. He is even considering driver’s licenses for immigrants living here illegally.

One of his first acts in office was to rescind a 2008 order by the previous governor, Governor Donald Carcieri (R), that sought to reduce the estimated 20,000 to 40,000 illegal immigrants in Rhode Island and lessen what he called a burden on state resources. The order required state agencies and contractors to use E-verify, a federal service that verifies a person’s eligibility to work, and deputized several State Police troopers to help enforce immigration law, among other provisions. ... He said the state was unfairly blaming immigrants for the bleak economy.

Rhode Island’s flip-flop reflects a slew of similar contradictions at the national level, where states such as Maryland and Connecticut are allowing students here illegally to pay in-state tuition while states such as Alabama are barring them from state colleges altogether. Researchers say many states are tackling illegal immigration because Congress, which has power over federal immigration law, has consistently failed to do so.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/rhode_island/articles/2011/10/08/in_rhode_island_a_new_direction_on_immigration/

[aquart]

1. What grows in Rhode Island will be harvested.

While Alabama crops rot.

[SlimJimmy]

2. K&R