Lawmakers: Let's bar illegal immigrants from social services
Alison Hawkes, Times Capital Bureau
06/21/2006
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HARRISBURG - Some Pennsylvania lawmakers who say federal immigration policy is failing are seeking state regulation of illegal immigrants by barring them from receiving state-funded social services, penalizing hiring businesses and giving law enforcement broader arrest powers.

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Ten House members gathered Tuesday to introduce a package of bills they hope will crack down on illegal immigrants in Pennsylvania, who number more than 100,000, according to a 2005 study by the Pew Hispanic Center.

Pennsylvania lawmakers' approach, called the National Security Begins at Home package, would do the following:

* Prohibit state government agencies from providing government services, except emergency medical care, without documentation of legal status. Welfare, unemployment benefits and education, among other services, would be banned.

* Require county and municipal corrections staff to determine nationality and lawful status of any person confined to jail for a felony or drunken driving.

* Turn over any identified illegal immigrant to federal authorities, and the state would submit an invoice to the federal government for "the cost of the illegal alien."

* Impose criminal penalties on anyone who knowingly hires an illegal immigrant.

* Give police and other law enforcers the right to arrest people when immigration status is in question for up to 30 days