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April 8, 2008

Governor, Martinez meet in wake of immigration remarks

PROVIDENCE -- Governor Carcieri is meeting now with DCYF director and cabinet member Patricia Martinez, a day after she said the governor's push to curb illegal immigration had created a climate of "hatred" in Rhode Island.

The governor has yet to comment directly on Martinez's remarks, which came in a Journal interview yesterday morning following the annual Kids Count breakfast.

It is unclear if Martinez or Carcieri will speak publicly after the meeting, which began around 3:30 p.m. in the governor's State House office.

Martinez, a member of the governor’s Cabinet for the last three years and a former leader in the Hispanic advocacy organization Progresso Latino, said Carcieri’s proposal, like a handful of bills proposed by the General Assembly, "is really slamming immigrants" by promoting racial profiling.

"I think the executive order along with what has happened in the media has really created an environment that is unfortunate," Martinez said yesterday. "Whether it was the purpose or not, you talk to people in church, you talk to people in the supermarket, you go to the little hair salons, people are afraid. And not because they are undocumented, but it’s just because you are going to be stopped just because you look different, just because you have an accent, just because now it has created this hatred."

Extra: Read the full text of Carcieri's executive order.

-- Journal State House Reporter Steve Peoples

Posted by Steve Peoples  at 3:43 PM | Permalink

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