Gencarella: Why Would Elected Officials Propose To Disobey The Law?

Gencarella: Why Would Elected Officials Propose To Disobey The Law?

Elorza Draws A Line In The Sand

Telling CNN’s Costello that it’s very important for him to “reassure all our residents that regardless of what they hear at the national level, they are safe here in Providence and we have their back”, Providence Mayor Elorza drew a line in the sand regarding illegal immigration in RI.  But many are questioning why an elected official would not only defy following federal law but would also put the legal residents at risk of losing federal funding for various programs.

While Elorza speaks to the potential for forced deportation, one of the more basic and key elements of Trump’s platform is to require E Verify, a simple and efficient system to determine if a potential worker is a documented individual. A local RI group (RIILE) has been calling for this simple measure for years now, but our elected leaders have refused to consider it. When former Governor Carcieri implemented E Verify with an Executive Order, it encouraged a sort of self deportation. If you are illegal and not allowed to work there is not much opportunity for you to better yourself so there is no reason to flock to state or the capital city.  

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Follow The Money

Former Representative Trillo has stated in the past that illegal immigrants have converged on RI because our state and local governments have turned a blind eye to the issue of illegal immigration.  The reason is clear.  According to RIILE (Rhode Islanders for Immigration Law Enforcement) the State of RI distributes an estimated $300 million worth of services to the state’s illegal population.

Why then would RI’s elected leaders (remember, former Governor Chafee reversed Carcieri’s Executive Order) allow the unfettered immigration of illegal aliens into our state?  

Many speculate it is to increase the number of Democrat votes.  Others believe illegal immigration is seen as necessary to maintain RI’s population. Studies show that many RI citizens of wealth leave the state and that is offset by the influx of immigrants, both legal and illegal.  Although it is not a straight forward calculation, the number of US House seats allotted to RI can change based on population.  According to reports, RI’s population stats put it in line to lose a US House seat after the next census is taken in 2020.  Any serious loss in illegal immigrant population would only serve to put us in a more precarious position.

Is Elorza Calling Trump’s Bluff?

What would happen to cities like Providence and Central Falls if they were truly forced to confront the illegal immigration issue?  Probably bankruptcy.  If E Verify were required and families were forced to leave because they could not obtain gainful employment, who would occupy the many multi-family houses lining the streets of our urban cities?  Multi-family owners would be hard pressed to find enough renters to occupy these units.  Would that mean a sizable uptick in abandoned buildings bringing with it a property tax problem? 

The small businesses that depend on programs like food stamps might be hard hit in cities like Providence and Woonsocket (the story of Woonsocket’s small businesses that depend on the food stamp program is well known. Our local hospitals would surely receive significantly less state support via uncompensated care reimbursements.  The school systems would naturally see immediate attrition thereby requiring fewer teachers and most likely less infrastructure.  The state education formula would necessarily reduce the allocation of school aid to cities like Providence, Woonsocket and Central Falls from the shear number of students lost as well as from the calculation of the relationship of low income students.  And what about the affordable housing that has been built which presumably many of the illegal immigrants occupy?  The state’s recently adopted planning document, RhodeMap RI, is built on the premise of pushing more affordable housing on the taxpayers.  Will building more affordable units create a glut in the market if illegal immigrants are not included in the projections for occupancy?

It is reasonable to think that the loss of illegal immigrants would lead to job losses for teachers and other school related positions, and nurses and doctors, and construction workers, not to mention the peripheral businesses that benefit from illegal immigrants now residing in the state.  Could our cities withstand such an immediate blow if many of these illegal immigrants were to self deport within President Trump’s first 100 days in office?  It is unknown because state and local governments do not track what it costs to subsidize this population nor do they have any idea what the impact is on local businesses, on the housing industry or on our education system.

It is probably safe to assume that Mayor Elorza has concluded that the impact of an outmigration of illegal aliens would be devastating to Providence.  It would appear that he is willing to call Trump’s bluff when it comes to playing hardball with federal funds.  For now it seems Elorza will risk the potential loss of federal funding to the state in order to maintain the status quo in the illegal immigrant population, hoping to keep Providence afloat with the current state funding and maybe most of the federal funding.

If President Trump is effective in addressing the illegal immigration issue, Providence will most likely be one step closer to bankruptcy, which many in RI believe is the right answer for Providence anyway.