By JIM BARON

PROVIDENCE —  Gov. Donald Carcieri signed an executive order Thursday enacting a number of get-tough provisions against illegal immigration

“If you are here illegally, you shouldn’t be here illegally,” Carcieri said in a mantra he repeated in response to several questions about various aspects of the order, one that drew applause and cheers from members of the public attending the afternoon signing ceremony.
Declaring that “over the last few decades, the federal government has consistently ignored the complex issue of illegal immigration,” he contended that state taxpayers have been forced to bear the cost of the “epidemic” flow of illegal immigrants.
Among the steps Carcieri mandated in his order are:
n The Department of Administration will be required to use the federal E-Verify Program (formerly called Basic Pilot) to ensure that all executive branch employees — including contractors, subcontractors and vendors and their employees — are legally eligible to be employed in the United States and to take action against those who are not. Departments in other branches of government will be urged to do the same, Carcieri said.
n  Directors of each department and agency in the executive branch will be required to notify any person whose identity was stolen or improperly used to receive any state benefit such as welfare, health care, child care, or any identification card such as a driver’s license
n The State Police and Department of Corrections will work with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials to train and enable officers to enforce federal immigration laws.
n  Urging all law enforcement officials to take steps to support the enforcement of federal immigration laws by investigating and determining the immigration status of all non-citizens taken into custody, incarcerated or under investigation for any crime and notifying federal authorities.
n The Parole Board and Department of Corrections will work with ICE to deport criminal aliens upon their parole or release from prison.
“Nothing in this executive order shall be construed to supersede, contravene or conflict with any state or federal law or regulation or deny a person’s rights under the Rhode Island or U.S. constitutions and to this extent the employees of the executive branch may act independently of this executive order in order to avoid such conflict or violation,” the order states.
Acknowledging that the topic of illegal immigration “stirs great emotions” and is “fraught with all kinds of inflammatory language,” Carcieri said, “I want to make one thing very clear: I support increasing the quotas to have more legal immigrants in the United States. I support granting more work permits to immigrants who are sponsored by employers. This is not about taking a hard line against immigrants. We have, and always will, welcome legal immigrants to Rhode Island.”
As is the case with most states, Rhode Island does not have an accurate count of the number of illegal immigrants living here, Carcieri said. The Pew Hispanic Center estimated the count at 40,000, he said, “more than the population of most of our state’s cities and towns. This puts a tremendous strain upon our public schools, hospitals, state and local human service organizations and law enforcement agencies.”
Asked whether an illegal immigrant who is a victim of a crime, or has information about a crime, could be investigated by state or local police concerning their immigration status, Carcieri repeated that someone who is here illegally should not be here.
“It’s a double-edged sword,” acknowledged State Police Major Steven O’Donnell. “If we don’t check their status, they’re telling us they are illegal, in due process, defense attorneys will get that and at some point they will do the same thing. They will check and they will use the person’s being illegal against them as a witness to impede their credibility.
“Because we contact ICE and ICE says that person is here illegally, it doesn’t mean they are going to be deported, it probably means they are going to be given a date for jurisprudence to take place. So if we have a victim of a crime, we encourage them to come forward, absolutely.”
With the caveat that they will be referred to ICE?
“Again, the governor made very clear that if you are here illegally, you don’t belong here in the first place,” O’Donnell said.
Sen. Juan Pichardo, a leader in the Latino community, declared, “This is a nightmare for the undocumented, but it is also a nightmare for Rhode Island. People are beginning to take the law into their own hands by asking for documentation, Social Security cards.
“The governor could have used his power to bring more sensible thinking to the issue.”
 Cumberland Rep. Rick Singleton, a Republican who has introduced several immigration bills in the past two years, called Carcieri’s order “a great first step in the right direction.”
Terry Gorman of Rhode Islanders for Immigration Law Enforcement (RIILE) said he was “ecstatic that something concrete has finally happened.
“I don’t know how executive orders work,” Gorman said, “but we couldn’t get legislation passed, so maybe this was a way to get something done.”