RI, Ariz. immigrant measures diverge on key points

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Supporters of Arizona's new illegal-immigration law have in recent weeks cited Rhode Island as a state where police have been quietly carrying out comparably tough enforcement without a court challenge from the Obama administration.

But in Rhode Island, both sides of the debate agree that the executive order issued by Gov. Don Carcieri in 2008 is far less sweeping than the Arizona law, which takes effect this month.

Comparisons of the two approaches are intended to rationalize the law in Arizona, generally more conservative than Rhode Island, by suggesting it's already more or less in place in a heavily Democratic state, said Steven Brown, a leading critic of the governor's order and executive director of the Rhode Island affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union.

"The only reason I can see individuals focusing on Rhode Island is for political purposes and stretching what's happened here as a way to try and compare a largely Democratic state — a blue state — with a red state and somehow claim that Rhode Island should be looked at similarly," Brown said.

The Arizona law makes it a state crime for immigrants to not carry immigration documents; Rhode Island's executive order has no such provision.

Arizona's law generally requires local police officers, while enforcing other laws, to question a person's immigration status if there is a "reasonable suspicion" that the individual is in the country illegally. Rhode Island's order directs the State Police to help with immigration enforcement and encourages — but, importantly, does not require — local police to seek a suspect's immigration status.

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