Thread: Illegal workers targeted in R.I.

Illegal workers targeted in R.I.
Crackdown fuels immigration debate
Email|Print| Text size – + By Maria Sacchetti
Globe Staff / February 12, 2008

PROVIDENCE - Rhode Island, facing a budget crisis that will lead to massive cutbacks, is engulfed in the most intense battle over illegal immigration in New England, with Republicans and Democrats alike calling for a crackdown on unauthorized workers.

In the past few weeks, state lawmakers and the governor have proposed a battery of measures targeting unauthorized workers, from expelling undocumented children from the state's healthcare system to making English the official language to jailing business owners and landlords who harbor illegal workers.

Even the father of the state's first baby born in the New Year was caught up in the issue. Days after a beaming Mynor Montufar appeared in the news, the illegal immigrant was picked up for deportation to Guatemala.

The increasingly vitriolic debate, playing out in coffee shops, on talk radio, and television, is dividing a state that has long taken pride in its immigrant roots. Lawmakers and angry taxpayers say the state is facing a $550 million budget deficit and cannot afford government services for illegal immigrants.

But immigrants accuse their critics of betraying their own heritage, pointing out that Italians, Irish, and other groups came to the United States for the same reason as today's immigrants: to work.

"If this is the country of immigrants, why the witch hunt?" said Enio Garcia, a Goya foods salesman, as he took orders at a market in Central Falls, a city outside of Providence. "They've forgotten where they came from."

Lawmakers and others say Rhode Island has been forced to search for its own solutions over the past year because Congress failed to do something about the 12 million immigrants in the United States illegally.

Nationally, other states are also taking on immigration. In Arizona, a law that took effect this year threatens to shut down businesses that intentionally hire illegal immigrants. Oklahoma began denying government benefits to illegal immigrants last year and made it a felony to harbor them.

"We need to start taking care of the people who are residents of the state of Rhode Island, who rightfully belong here, who come here, pay taxes, and support all these programs," said state Senator Christopher B. Maselli, a Democrat and the great-grandson of Italian knife makers, who is cosponsoring the legislation that, among other things, would punish landlords and business owners who harbor illegal workers. "They're sick and tired of having to support people who don't come here the right way."

Rhode Island has long touted its immigrant past, and the contributions of European immigrants who once toiled in the textile mills. In downtown Providence, a new memorial commemorates the Irish famine. Across the street, a marble plaque honors Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano.

Illegal immigrants account for 20,000 to 40,000 of the state's 1 million residents, according to the Pew Hispanic Center. For years, immigrants from Latin America and other lands felt safe strolling the streets and working in factories.

But in the last few years, that has changed. Immigrants now say they are squirreling away money, staying indoors, and worrying about recent immigration raids.
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Many immigrants were shaken by the arrest of Montufar, who had defied a deportation order. He also had convictions for disorderly conduct and domestic assault. In an especially dramatic turn, one of the Montufar family's boarders, David De La Roca, 27, was found hanged in an apparent suicide the day of Montufar's arrest. He was also an undocumented immigrant from Guatemala.

Lilliana, 34, an undocumented immigrant from Colombia, says one of her co-workers at a shoe factory breaks into a sweat when strangers enter the room, afraid they are immigration agents.

"There are so many bad people out there. Why don't they go and get them?" said Lilliana, speaking in Spanish as she shopped at a mini-market in Central Falls, which has one of the highest proportions of immigrants in the state. "Leave the working people alone."

In Rhode Island, criticism of illegal immigrants crosses party lines.

The Republican governor, Donald L. Carcieri, supports a bill to make English the state's official language, mainly a symbolic move. After an undocumented worker from Mexico cut his face open with a chainsaw and recently collected $30,000, Carcieri said he would file legislation to end workers' compensation benefits for illegal workers. Carcieri is already under fire for eliminating the jobs of three Southeast Asian interpreters last year, part of a reduction of 1,000 state jobs.

At the State House, Maselli and another Democratic lawmaker filed the bill, modeled after an Oklahoma law, that would punish landlords and business owners who hire or rent apartments to illegal immigrants. Another bill, which has dozens of cosponsors in the House and Senate, would force businesses to screen new workers through a federal database.

Carcieri declined to comment, though he has aired his views repeatedly on talk radio and said the state should not support people who are here illegally.

Advocates for immigrants say illegal immigrants are the scapegoats for the financial troubles in a state that has been strained in the past by allegations of corruption and overspending.

Juan Garcia, a community organizer in Providence, said cracking down on immigrants hurts the state's economy, pointing to the arrest of Montufar, 21, as one example.

With Montufar out of work, Carmen Marrero, his 19-year-old girlfriend and a US citizen, said she is applying for aid for herself and her three children. "Now, there are four more people who are going on the rolls," Garcia said.

Critics of illegal immigrants say they hope the publicity over the legislation will pressure illegal immigrants to leave Rhode Island.

In Lincoln, a rural town of brightly painted farmhouses, rolling fields, and few immigrants from Latin America, Terry Gorman is leading a grass-roots push for a statewide crackdown on illegal immigrants from his tanning salon in a strip mall. He founded Rhode Islanders for Immigration Law Enforcement in 2006 after a friend without health insurance was hit with a $6,600 hospital bill, which Gorman believes an illegal immigrant could have avoided.

Currently, the group has 450 members who attend legislative hearings and campaign against lawmakers who disagree with them. The group mailed dozens of bricks to US congressmen to show their support for a proposed wall along the southern border.

Gorman, 67, a grandson of Irish immigrants, said he is often called racist for his work, but insisted that he is against lawbreakers only. "If you're from Poland, Russia, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Haiti, and anywhere in South America, if you're in the United States illegally, then I'm against you," he said.

A few stores away, paint shop owner Ted Sliney said he agreed with Gorman that immigrants should not be here illegally. He said he works 11- to 12-hour days to help pay an $800-a-month health insurance bill.

"I don't mean to seem cruel, but I feel like I'm carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders," he said.

Critics of illegal immigrants draw a line between today's immigrants and their own ancestors, pointing out that previous generations followed the rules. But advocates for immigrants and others say it used to be a lot easier to get into the United States.

"You can't really compare the experiences of the early immigrants with the current ones," said Darrell West, a public policy and political science professor at Brown University. "A hundred years ago half of these people arriving would have been considered illegal immigrants."

In Central Falls, immigrants say they are just following in the footsteps of previous generations. The bodegas, chicken stands, and bakeries on Dexter Street are stocked with cheeses, sour creams, and breads from their homelands. Colorful posters advertise Mexican groups playing at the Knights of Columbus, and DVDs for learning English hang from the walls in a Colombian store.

Garcia, the Goya foods salesman, said immigrants are leaving for other states.

"The barrio is empty," said Garcia, a native of Guatemala who became a US citizen five years ago. "That's the fear that exists in this state. Rhode Island has changed."

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There are so many bad people out there. Why don't they go and get them?" said Lilliana, speaking in Spanish as she shopped at a mini-market in Central Falls, which has one of the highest proportions of immigrants in the state. "Leave the working people alone."

Well....ya see...depending on where you live, we are supposed to ignore them as well.....I mean when is bad, bad enough? According to some advocates they are ALL good people or it's part of "their" culture...leave them alone to commit whatever crimes necessary to survive while the rest of us are expected to tow the line and tolerate whatever that might mean.

BUDGET CRISIS ?? How can this be ? The Great Mexican President and the Head of La Raza say Illegals are great for the USA . Have i been lied to ? I trust my tv-news, have they lied to me also ? Oh the pain

LMAO that Dubya and his cabinet are STILL in office

Garcia, the Goya foods salesman, said immigrants are leaving for other states.

Soon the only place to run will be back to where you belong! Save yourself the grief go back now!

Go Rhode Island!

Illegal is illegal; NO excuses.

In Rhode Island, criticism of illegal immigrants crosses party lines.

This is a great development, and I hope there is more bipartisan political cooperation in other states to stop and reverse illegal aliens sneaking into our country and taking jobs from US citizens.

Lawmakers and angry taxpayers say the state is facing a $550 million budget deficit and cannot afford government services for illegal immigrants.

Good for them for admitting it instead of putting their heads in the sand like most states.

Go Rhode Island, proud of you!

Yes, Go Rhode Island!!!
The states to flee to are becoming fewer and fewer. This will pressure the remaining states to do something about it. Even the legislators in California will be faced with doing something!! Then, the illegals will flee to their homelands.
Hey, McCain, we told you it can be done! We didn't have to deport a one!
Jerk.

It'll never happen in California--California is already lost. Largely Dem state. The legislature is 23% hispanic and the state senate is 27% hispanic.

Well this says it all for all states whether they understand it yet or not. It will be your state next folks if you don't wake up.

"We need to start taking care of the people who are residents of the state of Rhode Island, who rightfully belong here, who come here, pay taxes, and support all these programs," said state Senator Christopher B. Maselli, a Democrat and the great-grandson of Italian knife makers, who is cosponsoring the legislation that, among other things, would punish landlords and business owners who harbor illegal workers. "They're sick and tired of having to support people who don't come here the right way."


Amen brother. California is in a budget crisis too, but Arnold the Democratic legislature sure won't acknowledge it. We are oooooooooh soooooooo tolerant in Ca we just have to keep socking it to the American taxpayer.