PROVIDENCE – Crowds packed the Algonquin House on Broad Street Monday afternoon to voice their opposition to Governor Donald Carcieri's recent executive order cracking down on illegal immigration.
The crowd of more than 100 people began chanting in unison: "Un pueblo unido jamas sera vencido!" (A unified people will never be defeated.) Politicians, religious leaders, and members of the Hispanic community who attended the rally advocated not only for the rights of immigrants, but also against the division of Rhode Island that they see as a likely outcome of the order.
Stella Carrera, coordinator of Immigration and Refugee Services for the Diocese of Providence, was among those in attendance. She said Friday's executive order calling for the state's law enforcement agencies to take action against undocumented immigrants created weekend panic within the Hispanic community.
"What happened Friday, it scared many people that we serve," she said. Families have made contingency plans for their children's care out of fear that they will be detained by the police, Carrera said. A climate of distrust and apprehension has grown rapidly in the Hispanic community following this order, she noted.
Carrera said she was recently contacted by someone who organizes soccer teams for Hispanic youth, some of whom are undocumented or have undocumented family members. She said the man wondered if it was safe to continue holding the games or if he should be worried about the police asking for everyone's documentation. She didn't have an answer for him.
Many of the speakers at Monday’s rally spoke about the fear and distrust the order will create in the community. People will be afraid to go to the police for anything, they said, whether to report a crime or serve as a witness, because the police now have the authority to question their immigration status. Steven Brown, executive director of the Rhode Island chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said, "the police will now be seen as their enemy instead of their friend."
Carcieri's order is "not a solution," said Lieutenant Governor Elizabeth Roberts at the rally. She added that the order will have the effect of dividing the state and is "very shortsighted." Roberts called on the Governor to stop practicing the "politics of polarization."
The order calls on local and state law enforcement agencies to train officers to enforce U.S. immigration laws. It also says that state government, as well as all businesses that receive grants, contracts, or subcontracts from the state or are vendors to the state, must use the E-Verify program to ensure that their employees have valid social security numbers and are eligible for employment. Those opposed to the E-Verify system say that it is unreliable and often mistakenly identifies people who are legal as ineligible to work.
The undocumented people who are targeted by Carcieri's order are often people whose families and even children are American citizens, according to Carrera. They often enter the country with legal visas to visit family, work temporarily or study and, once the visas expire, do not return to their native countries to await being awarded legal immigrant status from the U.S.
The waiting lists for people to become citizens, even for those being sponsored by a family member, are often backlogged for nearly a decade, according to data provided by Carrera. Someone who wants to become an American citizen is forced to make a difficult decision: either be separated from their American families for years while awaiting legal status, or stay in the country illegally to work or raise a family and hope they can keep a low-profile.
The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University estimated in 2006 that there were about 28,000 undocumented people living in Rhode Island. Carrera said it is important that every Rhode Islander realize that the undocumented people "are not terrorists." They work, pay taxes, pay into social security and are not eligible for government assistance. "They are part of the economy," she said.
Father Raymond L. Tetrault, pastor of St. Teresa of Avila parish in Providence, said he has spent half his life working in the Hispanic community. At Monday's rally, he talked about the people he knows who are afraid of what Carcieri’s order could mean for them. "The human aspect is the most important. What happens to families when they leave the house and they are not sure if they'll return to their children?" he said.
He said he felt attending the rally was one of his duties as a priest: "I'm a pastor, and a pastor has to be with the people when they're going through a hard time."
Father Robert M. Beirne, pastor of St. Anthony parish in Providence, said one of his parishioners came to him terrified that immigration officials will take him from his home in the night. Father Beirne said the only assurance he could give the man was to leave a key to his house so Father Beirne can go in and get any necessary paperwork if the worst does happen. "The lives of the people I live and work with... are going to be destroyed," Father Beirne said. He added that he and the other priests in his deanery plan to have a meeting to discuss the way this order may affect their parishioners and what, if anything, they can do in response.
The Diocese of Providence issued an official statement in response to the Governor's order on Monday afternoon, calling for comprehensive immigration reform: "The status quo is not acceptable and has created significant problems, challenges and fears for those affected by the nation's current immigration policy." The statement went on to question Carcieri's order and the pressure it has put on the Hispanic community: "It is very unfortunate that this policy targets a vulnerable community whose members are also children of God, our brothers and sisters in the human family."
Carrera echoed those sentiments: "Catholics and Christians, it's our obligation to be with the people, our brothers and sisters without documentation," she said.
An ecumenical press conference was slated to be held at the Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul Wednesday afternoon in response to the order.
