PROVIDENCE — The Rhode Island Affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union yesterday filed a lawsuit challenging the legality and effectiveness of a key component of Governor Carcieri’s crackdown on illegal immigrants.

The lawsuit asks the Superior Court to immediately suspend the portion of the governor’s March executive order that requires all contractors with the state to participate in the federal employment verification system known as E-Verify.

Steven Brown, executive director of the local ACLU, said the E-Verify program — an Internet database run by the Department of Homeland Security to uncover illegal immigrants — has been “riddled with significant flaws” and returns inaccurate information regarding the immigration and employment status of new hires.

“It’s an inappropriate demand by the state to have private vendors and individuals make use of such a flawed program,” Brown said.

Further, Brown said the governor’s order is also illegal because it conflicts with state laws governing the purchasing process and was instituted without any public comment period.

Carcieri spokeswoman Amy Kempe disagreed.

“The lawsuit is wholly without merit and the governor was well within his constitutional and statutory authority,” she said. “The executive order was very closely patterned to follow the law and kept mandates well within the purview of the executive branch.”

Across the country, Kempe said, “this is something that is quite common.” Kempe said several other states use E-Verify “in some manner,” including Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Tennessee.

Arizona and Mississippi require all employers, both public and private, to enroll in E-Verify, said Kempe, and to authorize the work status of all new employees.

The ACLU filed its lawsuit on behalf of the Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence and two Rhode Island College professors — Ann Marie Mumm and Daniel Weisman — who have contracts with the state and who object to participation in the program.

In an affidavit filed with the lawsuit, Deborah DeBare, executive director of coalition, said her agency contracts with the state to provide court advocates for victims of domestic violence, as well as to provide services for children who witness domestic violence.

“Our agency prides itself on its diverse staff,” DeBare said. “We are concerned that mandatory use of the E-Verify program may discourage some applicants, particularly foreign-born citizens from applying, due to E-Verify’s high error rate.”

Weisman, a social worker, contracts with the state to evaluate a program run through the Department of Health that offers parents ways to discuss delicate issues with their children.

“I strongly disapprove of mandatory use of the E-Verify program,” Weisman said in his affidavit. “If forced to register with E-Verify, I will have to take time away from my work to attend to the E-Verify tutorial and comply with the E-Verify administrative requirements,” including writing “right to-appeal notices” to employees who don’t pass through the system but have rights of appeal. Weisman said he might have to hire someone to take care of the bureaucratic paperwork.

In its lawsuit, the ACLU contends Carcieri encroached upon the legislative powers of the General Assembly by essentially enacting a new law.

For instance it quotes a state law that says “no state purchasing regulation shall change in any way a contract commitment by the state nor of a contractor to the state which was in existence on the effective date of the regulation.” Carcieri’s order violates that law, the ACLU contends by “altering the terms of currently existing state contracts…”

Further, the ACLU says, the governor’s order also conflicts with a state law that gives the power of setting contracts to the Department of Administration or the state purchasing office and no “other person or agency.”

A hearing on the ACLU’s request for a temporary restraining order is expected within a few days.

tmooney@projo.com