Yesterday Rhode Island Superior Court Judge Mark Pfeiffer agreed with Gov. Don Carcieri’s rationale for immediate implementation of his executive order requiring all state contractors, vendors and grantees to use E-Verify to avoid hiring illegal workers. Judge Pfeiffer rejected this latest attempt by the state ACLU, another non-profit, and two social work professors to halt the new hiring rules, saying that there indeed existed adequate “economic and security rationale” to introduce the rules on an emergency basis. Carcieri’s office had defended its move by pointing out Rhode Island’s high unemployment rate (the highest in the nation) and referenced the recent discovery of a document fraud ring that gave dozens of illegal workers access to state courthouses through jobs with cleaning company contractors. State agencies have also been shaken by revelations in the recent trial of an illegal alien DMV worker, Delores Rodriguez LaFlamme, who was busted for providing fraudulent licenses to other illegal aliens and convicted drug dealers. (LaFlamme is a visa overstayer who tried to get a green card through a sham marriage to a heroin dealer, was caught by INS, but ignored orders to leave and kept working at the RI DMV.)
The state will proceed with its plans to collect public comments on the executive order at two scheduled hearings before finalizing the E-Verify regulations, but its plans to protect employment opportunities for citizens and legal residents will no longer be obstructed by desperate litigation from foes of immigration control.
The new rules can be viewed at http://www.purchasing.ri.gov/Notice3.pdf.
