Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

EAST PROVIDENCE -- Governor Carcieri this afternoon denied having any direct involvement in last night's arrests of suspected illegal immigrants by federal immigration agents and state police.

"We had nothing to do with this. This is completely independent of anything to do with the state level," the governor said during a very brief impromptu press conference outside the WPRO office this afternoon, where he was scheduled to tape a series of unrelated public service announcements.

Thirty-one maintenance workers employed by two contractors were nabbed at the state's six courthouses. Today, at a press conference at the U.S. Attorney's Office in Providence, a federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement official and the head of the Rhode Island State Police said the arrests were related to identity fraud.

Carcieri said it was a "complete coincidence" that the sweep occurred during the first gathering of his 27-member advisory panel charged with monitoring "unintended consequences" of his executive order earlier in the year cracking down on illegal immigration.

"I just heard about [the action] -- got a heads up the day before," Carcieri said. "It was pure coincidence. I think that that committee is still important."

He continued: "The federal government has a job to do; immigration has a job to do. They're going to do what they have to do... These are activities they're undertaking on their own. They give us a courtesy the day before of alerting us to it, but we have no involvement whatsoever."

Craig Berke, a court spokesman, yesterday said the state judiciary initiated the investigation that led to arrests. "In early June, we forwarded evidence to the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Rhode Island State Police," he said.

The governor said he was not monitoring the progress of the raid last night. He said the action "has nothing to do" with his recent executive order aimed at curbing illegal immigration, which requires state agencies to verify the immigration status only of new hires.

"I am concerned that there is more of this going on," Carcieri said, before slipping into the WPRO office. "How much of it's going on? I don't know. That's the point. We don't have good information."

Listen to the governor's comments.

-- Steve Peoples, Journal State House bureau

 Tags  immigration state police

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