Busting somebody's "cajones" is NOT a hate crime.

I for one am offended that these ministers have diminished in significance actual hate crimes as they seek to literally make a federal case out of one person's outburst.

THIS IS A VERY STUPID STUPID MAN WHO HAS BEEN INFLUENCED BY SOME VERY UGLY AND TWISTED THINKING THAT HAS INFECTED OUR COUNTRY OVER THE LAST FEW YEARS, AND HE WAS CLEARLY ACTING OUT OF HATE AND FEAR AND IGNORANCE IN A WAY THAT WAS NOT ONLY OFFENSIVE, REPULSIVE AND REPREHENSIBLE BUT ALSO CLEARLY AT ODDS WITH VARIOUS STATE AND FEDERAL LAWS WHICH PROTECT CITIZENS AND NON-CITIZENS ALIKE FROM DISCRIMINATORY ACTS SUCH AS THIS ONE. HOW DARE HE?

Did he use bad judgment, Yes, was it a hate crime, NO. I am sure all these Latino Ministers need to address more important issues then wasting time protesting in front of the store that the owner only crime was using bad judgment.
I do think people should learn English, I hate hearing about interpreters who are payed with my tax dollars use for people who come to this country and refuse to lean English.

This man is very misinformed and quite ignorant. But I'm sure that anyone who knows him already knows that. I agree that illegal immigration needs to stop, but he is so unaware that asking for a social security card will not help him prove or disprove someone's citizenship status. If he wants to help let him become a lobbyist. Let him get involved with politics. Just stop harassment of someone who happens to be bilingual. I wonder, if the men were speaking italian.. would he have asked the same question? Probably not!

Oh please!! If we had more business owners and employers refusing to do business with illegal immigrants -- demanding to see proof of citizenry -- we'd perhaps finally see less of a burden on our overburdened health and school facilities -- facilities that YOUR tax dollars support. I'm quite sure that it is against the law to hire an illegal immigrant. Why isn't it a crime to do business with them as well? I wish every American business owner would refuse service to potential illegals -- potential law-breakers -- potential burdens on publicly funded resources. Foreigners who wish to live in unobstructed freedom in MY country should come in through the front door and shake my welcoming hand. Those who let themselves in through the back door -- under the cloak of secrecy while demanding my hard-earned assets -- deserve the same thing that anyone would get who dares to enter my home in the same way -- a one-way ticket to jail. Enough with the "victimhood" mentality and rhetoric of Betsy and others like her. The real victims are the American taxpayers who support those who think we "owe" them something for nothing.

NO store or business owner has a legal right to require a customer's Social Security number or card to complete a transaction. It's the law. Richardson is wrong, plain and simple. He should be prosecuted accordingly and fined.

This incident made me sick. What the hell do the anti-"foreigner" screeds above this comment have to do with discrimination against two American citizens who happened to be conversing in Spanish? Shameful. And no, I do not condone illegal immigration. But a business owner is not the person to demand proof of citizenship and refuse to serve anyone who declines.

thank you some has the cahoones now lets get real. lets march to DC as legal americonos and demand rrrrrrrrrr rightssss 'born here and getting UCKING IN RI NO THANKS GOV KEEP US GAMING U SLY DOG

Illegal immigration needs to be addressed. LEGAL IMMIGRANTS NEED TO LEARN TO SPEAK IN THE LANGUAGE OF THIS COUNTRY....ENGLISH! If someone can come to this country, work here for American dollars and then send their money home to THEIR native country, the least they can do is learn to sepak ENGlish in public and not be rude to others. There is absolutely no excuse for rudness, in any language! In some countries you can't get service if you don't speak the language of the country. Althoug I do not agree that the storeowner had a right to ask for a Social Security card he certainly can express his opinion of rude customers.

Dear Mr. Richardson,

LONG BEFORE the white man set foot on American soil, the Native Americans had been living in America. When the Europeans came here, there were probably about 10 million Indians populating America north of present-day Mexico. And they had been living in America for quite some time. Therefore, unless you are a NATIVE AMERICAN, you too, my friend are an IMMIGRANT!!!!!!!! I don't know you and quite honestly, I would want to get to know you! I am a proud 25 year old female with parents of Puerto Rican and Dominican descent. Born and raised here in the US. YOU TOO Mr. Richardson, have come from a land far away!! I challenge you to find YOUR roots. You have put many to shame for what you are doing, saying and have done. Oh yeah!! and one more thing! You said the illegal immigrants are committing a crime!! Mr. Richardson once again I will teach you something! It's not illegal immigrants, it's undocumented immigrants. I don't know in what country you are living in, but in the United States of America it is not a crime to be undocumented. It is a civil violation. Soooooooo with all of this being said, next time you decide to apprehend, prosecute and sentence someone, learn your history and state laws. Oh by the way....................."Richardson" doesn't "sound" NATIVE AMERICAN to me! Where is YOUR social security card!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!

I too was sickened by this man's actions. He might as well put up a "whites only" sign in front of his store.

I believe I read in a comment that was posted earlier that one of the Spanish-speaking men is a state employee. How many English-speaking people are out of work and collecting unemployment? Where is this man employed, maybe at the Registry. What a joke. Personally, I find it very unamerican for these people to be talking in a foreign language when in public. They want to become assimilated supposedly in this country and yet all they do is babble in their own language. No matter where one goes, whether it be in the markets, malls or restaurants, all one hears is that babbling. This is America. Learn the language which, by the way, is ENGLISH.

I don't think any person, especially American citizens, would appreciate being asked for their Social at the point of a purchase. It can't happen. Identity theft would be rampant, even more than it already is. That's very private information. The only ones who CAN legally do it are the authorities, and they are not doing their job. If they were, illegal immigration would not be a problem in this country or in RI.

And being registered voters doesn't mean you're legal, by the way. It only means the person who wanted to vote signed the affidavit. But what good is an affidavit if it is never verified? If illegal immigrants don't even know the laws of this country, how can they know what they are signing and what the penalty for lying is? Are the affidavits in Spanish, French, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, etc? This also leads to the bigger problem of lawmakers being elected by non-citizens. Now that's a problem that's dangerous AND irreversible.

These guys didn't deserve to be threatened, no matter what the problems are in this state.

If there was less illegal immigration, people wouldn't have cause to get riled up like this. Legal immigration is fine; illegal immigration is not.

It seems as though this article is about "pastors" of some religious fanatics that are trying to shape our country's laws with their own show of hatred without forgiveness and understanding. Do they think anyone will apologize to anyone after demanding and investigation and prosecution and to shut someone down? Who's intimidating who now Reverend? Just keep stirring the pot folks and it will only get hotter for everyone.

The legality of Mr. Richardson's action are still up in the air. So lets not put him in jail so fast. Mr. Richardson happens to be a very nice man who is fed up and actually cares more about protecting our state and it's legal citizens more than our leadership does at the State House.

This is not a hate crime and should not be treated as such. This is just a person who recognizes how much of our legal hard earned dollars are going to pay for free healthcare, free schooling, and free food stamps. Often what happens is people live here for years undocumented and then 10 years or less before retirement they decide to become citizens and are now entitled to social security even though they didn't put in to it all their life. I have heard personally of cases of this.

If the latino ministers want to do some good they should be out there working the streets and either getting these undocumented residents, documented or get them send back to where they belong. All the undocumented residents are doing is creating a bad taste in everyone's mouth about the legal residents.

I don't think he should have asked for a social security card because they often have fake ones anyways but I think he should work with his legislators to get the laws changed because we are no longer the land of opportunity any more we have too many people out of work to be that.

To Diane:
If my fading memory is correct, didn't the ancestors of the "Native Americans" cross over from Asia thousands of years ago? Doesn't that make them "immigrants" as well?

Native Americans are originally Asians who crossed a former natural land bridge across the Bering Sea. Later some of those mixed with Europeans who crossed natural ice flows that used to stretch from Europe to North America. Much later this land mass became Canada, USA, Mexico and a few other countries. Please stop trying to decide who is native to North America because actually no race is. We all should be able to realize that our country is the USA and whoever was here when it was founded is native and the English language that is spoken here is the native language. Don't assume Mr. Richardson can't trace his roots back to people who got on a wooden ship with sails and made a journey to a place where no one was guaranteed even their life and that many of his ancestors fought in the many wars and/or battles we have had over the past 400 years. Please don't insult our heritage and the 100's of years of hard work, culture and religion that made this country a desirable place to live and don't think actual citizens aren't ticked off by the burden of supporting invaders who have come to pillage from us in the form of rising taxes, insurance costs and a lower minimum wage.

Bravo Mr. Richardson. Wish more Americans were like you - willing to take a stand and take the consequences. These so-called religious leaders who want to shut you down surely don't have Jesus with them.

Equal protection under the law is a bedrock principle in this country, and no American can violate that basic idea and claim to be a good citizen. Mr. Robinson operates a publically licensed business, and any attempt to justify his actions is like trying to rationalize Jim Crow. He was wrong, and he knows it, and the people who are responding here about the problem of illegal immigration are not addressing the point of what happened in this case in any way. Even illegal immigrants are subject to the laws of the country and are also PROTECTED by them in exactly the same way as a US citizen is. You can not, for instance, keep an illegal immigrant in jail violating habeus corpus protections any more than you can anyone else. And you can not discriminate against any person because of their origin or nationality or language spoken or religion or race or gender. The US is a special place in the world because of just such protections, and Americans who do not recognize that are threatening the future of this country much more than those who come here to seek such benefits that they do not enjoy at home.

While I can't condone Richardson's actions, at least I give the guy credit for putting his money where his mouth is.
The reason that there are so many illegal aliens here is because nobody ever turns them in, as long as they are making a buck off them, like slumlords and companies looking for cheap manpower. They pull the same kind of stunt as Richardson, implicitly if not explicitly threatening to have the aliens deported if they complain about conditions.

HELLO ! Didn't the clergy in this story get the memo about the separation between church and state ?