At a State House vigil yesterday, about 250 people called on the governor to rescind his order cracking down on illegal immigrants. “This country was founded for people just like us, people who are trying to find a better way,” one minister said.

The Providence Journal / Andrew Dickerman

PROVIDENCE — Members of the state’s Hispanic community yesterday gathered at the State House once again to protest Governor Carcieri’s recent order cracking down on illegal immigration.

The issue has stirred up passions on both sides of the immigration debate, even prompting members of the Hispanic community to briefly occupy a State House office during a protest earlier this month.

In contrast to that boisterous protest, yesterday’s gathering on the south steps of the State House was marked most often by murmured prayers and somber calls for divine intervention.

“The anti-immigrant sentiment that swept across this state and this nation is going to cause a lot of families to be broken up,” said the Rev. Eliseo Nogueras, 46, the pastor of Pawtucket’s House of Prayer Gethsemane. He is also chairman of the Governor’s Advisory Commission on Hispanic Affairs.

A native of Puerto Rico, Nogueras has been at the center of the opposition to Carcieri’s order.

He was once again at the center of events yesterday, calling the more than 300 people gathered at the base of the State House to kneel during a prayer vigil on the brick-and-marble patio.

“We have come to this symbolic place to ask that you take into consideration the children,” he called out. “Many people believe we are bowing our knees to men; [but] we are bowing our knees to an almighty God.”

After 10 minutes of prayer, Nogueras asked for the crowd to rise to its feet. Then he and more than a dozen other ministers from around the state led the gathering in more prayers and song.

In both Spanish and English, members of the Hispanic Ministerial Association of Rhode Island exhorted the governor to rescind his order and for state legislators to reject what they call anti-immigration proposals winding their way through the General Assembly.

“This country was founded for people just like us, people who are trying to find a better way,” said one unidentified minister.

Carcieri’s six-point executive edict, issued March 27, in part orders state police and the Corrections Department to assist the federal Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in enforcing federal immigration laws and requires use of a federal program to electronically verify that all executive branch employees and workers for vendors who do business with the state have legal status to work in this country.

Carcieri said he decided to take action in the face of federal inaction on immigration reform — inaction he said has led to an “epidemic” flow of illegal immigrants, leaving taxpayers to bear “the consequential costs.”

The General Assembly is not in session this week and the governor was not at the State House during yesterday’s event.

pgrimald@projo.com