RI gov. can enforce immigration order

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP/WPRI) - A state judge rules that Governor Carcieri can force private employers who do business with the state to electronically check their workers' immigration status.

In a ruling Monday, Superior Court Judge Mark Pfeiffer rejected a request from the American Civil Liberties Union to block Carcieri's order until the resolution of a lawsuit challenging it.

But the judge stopped Carcieri from ending state contracts with companies that refuse to use the federal E-Verify database until the state takes public comment on Carcieri's order and issues rules for enforcing it.

"We are pleased with the Judge's decision to deny the temporary restraining order, which allows the Administration to move forward in requiring vendors to use E-Verify," said Governor Donald L. Carcieri. 

"More importantly, the decision clearly recognizes that my Executive Order was within my authority and allowed by the state's Constitution."

ACLU Executive Director Steven Brown says he's glad that Carcieri's administration must clarify how it plans to enforce the order.

Carcieri's order, signed in March, requires that the companies use a federal database called E-Verify to vet new hires. The state branch of the American Civil Liberties Union had sued to stop Carcieri from applying his order to private firms.   

"Although our request for a restraining order was formally denied, we are pleased that the judge in essence granted us one," said Steven Brown, executive director of the Rhode Island ACLU.

"By acknowledging that the state clearly violated the Administrative Procedures Act in implementing the program, and by preventing the state from taking any action for the foreseeable future against vendors who do not register with it, the court has temporarily halted state enforcement of this flawed program, as we had requested."

Carcieri's order also forces state police and prison officials to identify illegal immigrants for possible deportation.      

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)