Rep. Richard W. Singleton, I-Cumberland, who opposes the “Campaign for Fairness” platform, speaks to reporters yesterday.

The Providence Journal / Kris Craig

PROVIDENCE — Proponents of a new legislative platform promoting “racial and economic equality for every Rhode Islander” said yesterday they want to end a “climate of fear” against immigrants, whether they are in the country legally or illegally.

The “Campaign for Fairness, Respect and Civil Rights,” a package of bills sponsored on behalf of the Immigrants United advocacy group, marks a purposely designed counterpoint to numerous bills aimed at curbing illegal immigration.

“These bills all come down to the fact that community safety, civil rights and economic opportunity must apply to all Rhode Islanders, regardless of immigration status,” said Ellen Gallagher, community outreach coordinator for the International Institute of Rhode Island, a member group of the Immigrants United coalition.

Gallagher said the platform resulted from community discussion about “what is the Rhode Island we want to create.” That Rhode Island would ensure that “all workers are protected from discrimination … where our neighbors don’t have to fear contacting police, especially if they have been victims of crimes,” and where people can be “free from discrimination when trying to rent an apartment or get a job.”

That Rhode Island would also be a state “where all our roads are safer so that all drivers are licensed,” and one “where all children have access to health care.”

The package includes nine bills and one resolution. Included are bills to allow all qualified drivers to obtain drivers’ licenses; grant access to health care to all Rhode Island children; and allow “all children who go through and graduate from Rhode Island’s high schools to qualify for in-state college tuition.”

Another would ensure that a person’s race, color, ethnicity, national origin or lack of English language proficiency “shall not constitute reasonable grounds” for the police to ask about their immigration status.

After the news conference, three legislative proponents of anti-illegal immigration bills denounced the “Campaign for Fairness” platform. They said it will promote law-breaking, encourage more illegal immigrants to come to Rhode Island and further strain an already financially strapped state.

“This is the far-left, anything goes, ACLU bill,” said Rep. Richard W. Singleton, I-Cumberland. “It basically says, you want a license and you’re illegal? We’ll give you one. You want to go to our schools for free? We’ll let you in. You want to go to college with in-state tuition? That’s fine — go ahead …”

He called the legislative package “extremely damaging to taxpayers of Rhode Island …. We need to control our borders in this country and we need to control our costs in this state. They will not make any delineation between legal and illegal. You never heard that debate. Their belief is that anybody who wants to show up here, documented or not, ‘Come on down.’ We can’t afford that.”

Representatives Peter Palumbo, D-Cranston, and Jon Brien, D-Woonsocket, also criticized the bills. Palumbo and Brien last month introduced “The Rhode Island Taxpayer and Citizens Protection Act,” a revamped version of a bill that died last year during the last General Assembly session. Singleton has signed on to their bills and introduced others in a similar vein.

Yesterday’s speakers also included Sen. Charles J. Levesque, D-Portsmouth; Rep. Grace Diaz, D-Providence; Sen. Juan Pichardo, D-Providence, Rep. David Segal, D-Providence, all of whom are sponsoring bills, and Fred Ordoñez of Progreso Latino.

Ordoñez noted that the Immigrant Advocacy coalition “started in reaction to unconstitutional anti-immigration laws that further dehumanize our community. We believe that until federal immigration reform is enacted that is fair and gets today’s immigrants on a path to citizenship, states cannot take it upon themselves” to enforce the existing federal immigration laws outside their purview.

Pichardo said, “The Rhode Island we want for our children and future generations is one that values all individuals, rather than promotes discrimination based on real or perceived immigration status.”

Levesque, sponsor of the bill pertaining to drivers’ licenses, appealed for reasoned discussion by both sides.

“We have to have measured conversations, no matter how we feel,” he said. “I want to keep the dialogue going. I think we can talk to each other and get things done.” At the same time, he said, “I think this is fairer legislation than that proposed by my colleagues on the other side of this debate.”

Segal called immigration “the founding tradition of the United States,” and noted that “thousands of immigrants from more than 100 countries make Rhode Island their home.”

Segal said, “There is a broad consensus across the country and in this room today that our immigration system is broken … but we can’t fix that on the ground here in Rhode Island, nor is it our job to do so.” He said we are better off as a society “when we can make it clear to the federal government that they need to pass immigration reform.”

kziner@projo.com