PROVIDENCE — Governor Carcieri’s executive order on illegal immigration has created such fear throughout Rhode Island that a panel he appointed to monitor the order’s unintended consequences is recommending he make a “well-publicized clarifying statement” to explain what the order does and doesn’t do.

The order, issued last March, has been “misunderstood and misinterpreted” by immigrant communities, as well as by the police and the public, causing havoc and unnecessary worry among legal and illegal immigrants, panel members said yesterday

“There are people living in basements in fear, afraid to go out to the grocery store,” the Rev. Donald C. Anderson, executive minister of the Rhode Island State Council of Churches, said as the panel issued a draft report. “That’s the reality. The question is how do we get it back to some sense of normalcy.”

The panel, a mix of religious leaders, community advocates and people from government, law enforcement and business, gathered its impressions during five “listening sessions” with members of the immigrant community. The sessions, held at churches and community centers in Providence and Newport, underscore a high level of fear.

“I know of a family in New Bedford that drives around Rhode Island to get to Connecticut because they are afraid to drive through Rhode Island,” said a person who attended a session at St. Edward Church in Providence.

“I know of a man who has been cashing his paycheck at Stop & Shop for years. After the executive order, the clerk at the store refused to cash his check. This is discrimination legitimized by the executive order,” said a speaker, also at St. Edward.

Such comments were presented as they were made, with no attempt to check the accuracy, Anderson said.

“We simply recorded what they told us,” he said as the panel met yesterday afternoon.

The clarifying statement sought by the panel from Governor Carcieri did not appear likely. John Robitaille, Carcieri’s communications director, said the governor has explained what the executive order does and doesn’t do and is more inclined to work with local community groups to make sure they understand the order and are presenting it accurately to people in the immigrant community.

“That’s where we’ll get the home run,” said Robitaille, who attended the panel’s meeting.

When he signed the six-point order, Carcieri said it would enable “a vast array of state government agencies” to address the issue of illegal immigration and take control of problem that had been dropped by the federal government.

The order requires state agencies and vendors to verify the legal status of all employees, using the federal E-Verify database to screen new employees for the state and for state vendors to make sure they can legally work in the United States. It also calls for some state troopers and corrections staff to be deputized with immigration enforcement powers, and it calls for swifter deportation of prisoners found to be in the country illegally.

The order has sparked complaints of police harassment, but two panelists from law enforcement said they are doing things the same way they did before the governor signed the order.

“I think it’s a perception issue,” said state police Lt. Col. Steven G. O’Donnell.

Warwick Police Chief Stephen McCartney said it would help if the police were allowed to attend some of the meetings with the immigrant community, to hear the complaints firsthand. The police members of the panel did not attend the five meetings held in Providence and Newport.

McCartney also said that of the six New England states, Rhode Island makes the fewest number of checks with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The Rhode Island Affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union challenged the requirement that state venders screen new employees but the governor’s office prevailed in that legal skirmish.

Stephen Brown, the affiliate’s executive director, said yesterday that the panel’s report provides “an excellent summary” of the fear in the immigrant community. While Brown did not suggest that the executive order created those types of fears, he said it has exacerbated them and resulted in the police being “very aggressive” in questioning people in cars about where they are from.

Brown said it would help if the General Assembly restricted the police enforcement of federal immigration laws and clarify when passengers can be questioned on suspicion of criminal activity.

In addition to urging the governor to clarify the intent of his order, the panel also said the state should study the financial costs and benefits of the governor’s order and study what other states have done on the issue.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story mischaracterized comments made by John Robitaille. He said governor's staff would work with community leaders to make sure they understand the order and can explain it to people in the immigrant community.

redgar@projo.com