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Another Harrisburg sham
By Dimitri Vassilaros
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, May 12, 2006

When something -- anything, actually -- looks too good to be true in the General Assembly, Pennsylvanians must assume the worst. And then prepare for something even worse than that. Like House Bill 2319, which seems to crack down on employers of illegal aliens.

It was passed unanimously by both chambers last week. Look for Gov. Ed Rendell to sign the voter-friendly law before the primary election on Tuesday. Happy, happy coincidence, that.

The most frustrating aspect of the Legislature's well-choreographed farce is that this bill easily -- easily -- could have had a dramatic impact on the foreign infiltrators stealing jobs from Americans. Maybe that's why no hearings were scheduled.

The Prohibition of Illegal Alien Labor on Assisted Projects Act would prohibit the use of illegal alien labor on any project paid for by state grants or loans. That could apply to more than $1 billion in total state handouts.

"Could" as in "Hey, I just bought what could be the winning Powerball ticket!"

The bill has no mechanism to determine if recipients of the commonwealth's grants or loans will use illegals on the taxpayer-subsidized projects. Essentially it says that if the notoriously lax federal government somehow wins a conviction against an employer of illegals and if that employer received state funds, he would have to pay back the state and wait two years before applying for more state loot.

If the Legislature really cared, it would have included a stipulation that anyone receiving a grant or loan would need to use the free Basic Pilot Employment Verification Program offered by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services of the Department of Homeland Security.

The program available online at www.uscis.gov checks databases of the Social Security Administration and the DHS to verify the employment of all newly hired workers. The employer usually knows within 24 hours if he has an illegal on the payroll, according to Jessica Vaughan, senior policy analyst at the Center for Immigration Studies.

It sounds almost too good to be true, especially since the feds offer it. But, "It's real and it works," says Ms. Vaughan. "The satisfaction rate is 96 percent."

And if the Legislature wanted employers to get an answer within three to five seconds -- yes, three to five seconds -- the state could employ the services of the Form I-9 Compliance company in California. The number of employee verifications would determine the cost to the state per employee. It could be much less than $10 per verification, according to CEO John Hermann. Would his firm consider offering a wholesale rate to large accounts like, say, Pennsylvania? "Absolutely," Mr. Hermann says.

Maybe something like the deal his firm has with a government entity that actually cares about identifying illegal aliens -- the U.S. Air Force.

And since we are on a roll, if the Legislature and Mr. Rendell wanted to purge illegal aliens from every payroll in the state, the commonwealth could do what Colorado has been considering: Demand that every business in the state use the feds' verification system in addition to what they do now. And if Pennsylvania wanted to make that additional process effortless and instant, employ Mr. Hermann's company.

Until then, the Prohibition of Illegal Alien Labor on Assisted Projects Act is just another cynical act to fool voters.

Dimitri Vassilaros can be reached at dvassilaros@tribweb.com or 412-380-5637.