Projo Politics Blog

PROVIDENCE -- Religious leaders plan to meet with Gov. Carcieri to voice their concerns about his executive order cracking down on illegal immigrants.

The meeting, set for today, will include Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas Tobin, Rabbi Alan Flam of the Rhode Island Board of Rabbis and the Rev. Donald Anderson, executive minister of the Rhode Island State Council of Churches.

The religious leaders have criticized an executive order Carcieri signed last month requiring state police and prison officials to identify suspected illegal immigrants for possible deportation. It also requires state agencies and companies that do business with the state to verify the immigration status of new hires.

A lobbyist for the Catholic Diocese of Providence says the bishop plans to tell Carcieri that his order is scaring Hispanics.

-- The Associated Press

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