April 1, 2008
The Immigration Executive Order II (And why Normal People Think Progressives are a Tad Strange)
The first 2 sections of Rhode Island Governor Donald Carcieri's executive order on immigration concern the use of an automated system called "E-Verify" for confirming whether new hires by state government and state government contractors are in the country legally…
1. The Department of Administration shall register and use the federal government’s E-Verify program to electronically verify the employment eligibility of new hires in the Executive Branch and the validity of their Social Security numbers to ensure that all employees of the Executive Branch are legally eligible to be employed in the United States and take appropriate action against those that are not eligible for employment, consistent with federal and state law. For purposes of this Order, the Executive Branch of government is considered to be all agencies and departments in the Executive Branch, excluding the offices of general officers, said officers being the Department of Attorney General, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, and General Treasurer.Even before the issuance of the Governor's order, a number of progressive legislators had filed a General Assembly resolution objecting to the use of E-Verify…2. The Department of Administration shall require that all persons and businesses, including grantees, contractors and their subcontractors and vendors doing business with the State of Rhode Island also register with and utilize the services of the E-Verify program to ensure compliance with federal and state law.
RESOLVED, That this House of Representatives of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations hereby urges employers not to participate in the E-Verify program at this time, and calls upon the United States Congress to halt implementation of this program until such time as the issues described in this resolution are satisfactorily resolvedHowever, don't let the objection to E-Verify let you think that Rhode Island's progressives are opposed to the government and corporations (gasp!) investigating their employees -- even after they've been hired. Also introduced in the legislature this session by a group of progressive legislators (and Bruce Long) was a bill to require all Rhode Island employers above a certain size to designate a "transportation coordinator", who would be required to collect commuting information on all company employees and report it back to the government…
23-83-5. Requirements for employers -- (a) Not more than six (6) months after the adoption of the commute trip reduction plan by the department, each major employer in the state of Rhode Island shall develop a commute trip reduction program and shall submit a description of that program to the department for review. The program shall be implemented not more than six (6) months after submission to the department.At least one progressive legislator, State Representative Arthur Handy, was a sponsor of both the E-Verify resolution and the commuting restriction bill! So at the same time that Rhode Island's progressive brain-trust is telling us that identifying whether new hires are in the country legally is beyond what can reasonably be accomplished right now, they are also telling us that government is ready and able to continuously collect information on and ultimately restrict the activities of a great number of Rhode Islanders who drive to work!(b) A commute trip reduction program shall consist of, at a minimum:
(1) designation of a transportation coordinator and the display of the name, location, and telephone number of the coordinator in a prominent manner at each affected worksite…
(3) an annual review of employee commuting and reporting of progress toward meeting the single occupant vehicle reduction goals to the department consistent with the method established in the commute trip reduction plan;
Do you see a bit of a contradiction here? It's a strange attitude towards government that these progressives have, that the main function of government is to tightly manage the activities of law-abiding citizens and residents, while ignoring law-breaking by foreign nationals.
Andrew,
You're much too kind. Progressives are not a tad strange. Progressives are mentally deranged. The beautiful fallout from Governor Carcieri's actions will be the outing of all elected officials on the issue of illegal aliens. This hot button issue will be in play with the 2010 elections. Liz Roberts is the first of many to declare their allegiance either to country or to illegals.
Only the deranged think they can have it both ways.
Expect quite soon M Chuckie Bakstabber will be penning a love letter to his favorite fem'fatal' loon Lizbeth chortling over Roberts leadership and strength for taking a tremendous stand for alien law breakers everywhere... as she now hides under the bed after realizing just this morning that 75 - 80% of the state sides with the governor. lol
They are a deranged yet highly entertaining bunch.
Rhode Island's 'Progressive' version of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.
A tad strange?
they're out of their f******minds.
Only Lucky Spermers could be so stupid.
As a State employee in a large Human Service agency in RI and retired US Army soldier I have very strong concerns for the direction we are heading. Even though cuts in State government threaten my career, they are necessary. With that, so too is it necessary to explore other burdens on State government.
I have said time and time again, RI is the smallest state and therefore should be the example and leader not just for illegal immigration studies, but illegal / fraudulent public assistance and waiting periods to establish RI residency, not just US residency, to be eligible to receive State Public Assistance.
My theory is simple. If we make a modest family income of $85,000 per year with no children to support, we try to donate to church and other charities. Perhaps $3,000 to $4,000 per year or more, in good times. In hard times we reduce that charity to $1,000 to $2,000 per year. The same has to happen with the State of RI. We cannot afford to take care of everyone. We need a 12 to 18 month (min.) waiting period for anyone that is not a RI resident to receive any public benefit from the State. This deterrent, combined with other reduction of expenses should contribute greatly to reducing the budget deficit.
We should also give the companies that hire illegals a one-time amnesty which would include a workforce shift. By this I mean, you get caught as a company, the State would waive the penalties if that company replaced the illegal workforce with citizens that are on public assistance or unemployed. The company would be allowed under this State program to continue to pay the $5 per hour (if that was the rate it paid the illegal worker) and not be subject to possible future health care legislation for any worker hired under this program. Can you imagine the offset to our public assistance programs if these private companies were paying the $5 hour x 8 hours per day x 40 hours per week portion? Then multiply by the number of workers yielded (potentially) by the "shift".
The Executive Order is an emergency mechanism. The RI Assembly now needs to pass more detailed immigration legislation, which would include the Governor's Order and also target those areas that cost the State government the most money - first. The waiting period should be a first step. Remember - this would be for ANYONE, not just illegals.
Finally, when the word "illegal immigrant" is used, let's not forget the countless Yugoslav, Asian, African, and many other White / European and former Soviet block illegal immigrants. I never once saw the word "Hispanic" or "Latino" in the Executive Order or any other targeted format where the term "illegal immigrant" was used in potential lawmaking.
Good Luck Governor --
Ron Sanda - Sergeant First Class
US Army Reserve (Retired)