Thread: Metcalfe proposal to 'halt Pa.'s illegal alien invasion

State panel opens hearings to halt 'Alien Invasion'
Bills would sanction employers who hire illegal immigrants, require residents to prove citizenship. Protesters say acts would result in racial profiling and would harm economic recovery.
mcall.com
By John L. Micek
August 30, 2011

The news release from Rep. Daryl Metcalfe said: "State Government Committee to Consider Proposals to Halt PA's Illegal Alien Invasion."

But because of The Great Recession, the flow of undocumented immigrants into the United States has fallen sharply, a September 2010 report by the Pew Hispanic Center shows. And Pennsylvania, a Top 10 state by population, doesn't make the Top 12 states with large populations of illegal immigrants.

Still, Metcalfe, a Butler County Republican and chairman of the state government panel, opened two days' of hearings Tuesday on more than a dozen bills that would, among other things, sanction employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants, and require people to show proof of citizenship to qualify for public benefits.

Millions of people live in the U.S. without proper documentation.

Although Metcalfe's comments Tuesday as chairman were measured, it was the reddest of red-meat topics for one of the Legislature's most vocal conservatives. Democrats on the panel said they wanted to know where the problem was.

"I think my citizens just aren't that concerned," said Rep. Greg Vitali, D-Delaware. "They just view themselves as humans first."

As Tuesday's hearing opened, Metcalfe told the crowd that he had no problem with people who play by the rules and enter the country legally. His wife, Elke, is an immigrant from Germany.

"This is not about immigration," he said. "This is about addressing our illegal immigrant problem.

"Personally, I take offense when someone calls a foreign national, who came here illegally, an immigrant," Metcalfe said. "My wife … came here legally … . I don't appreciate someone taking benefits and jobs away illegally."

The number of people who do what Metcalfe and others claim has declined, Pew numbers show.

An average of 850,000 people a year entered the country illegally during the first half of the last decade. As the economy tanked, that number dropped to 300,000 a year, the Pew report found.

As of March 2009, there were 11.1 million illegal immigrants living in the United States, down from a high of 12 million in 2007. That's about 4 percent of 308 million people living in the U.S. in 2010.

The bulk of those entering the country, 60 percent, came from Mexico, while 20 percent came other parts of Latin America. Eleven percent came from Asia and 8 percent came from Africa, Europe, Canada and elsewhere, the Pew report indicated.

Protesters from a variety of groups, collectively gathered under the umbrella of the Pennsylvania Immigration and Citizenship Coalition, rallied in the Capitol rotunda before Tuesday's hearing.

They said the measures before Metcalfe's committee would result in racial profiling, would harm the state's economic recovery and would deny public assistance to other Pennsylvanians who don't have government-issued identification.

"Many of you belong to ethnic and racial groups that suffered discrimination when your ancestors first came to America," said Joshua Cohen, the assistant regional director for the Anti-Defamation League. "We don't want to see that history repeat itself."

http://articles.mcall.com/2011-08-30/ne ... tate-panel

Bills would tighten Pennsylvania's immigration enforcement

By Brad Bumsted, TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, September 5, 2011

HARRISBURG -- It's illegal and immoral to take resources from state taxpayers and give them to people without proper documentation, a national Tea Party leader says.

H. John Stahl, a former Pennsylvania legislator from Berks County and founding member of the Tea Party Immigration Coalition, is pushing for legislation in Pennsylvania and other states to ensure that illegal aliens don't get taxpayer-paid benefits such as welfare, take jobs from Pennsylvanians or have an opportunity to commit crimes.

"There is nothing in the U.S. Constitution that lends itself to the taxpayers being taxed for the benefit of illegal aliens," Stahl told the House State Government Committee last week.

A package of bills pending before the committee would require proof of citizenship to obtain public benefits; penalize employers who hire illegal aliens; require employers to use the federal E-Verify systems, in which applicants are checked against 455 million records; and let state and local police enforce immigration laws.

The "misguided proposals" would "harm and even criminalize" immigrants and communities, said Pamela Linares, of Community Insight, once an immigrant and now a legal resident.

"Instead of targeting immigrants, Pennsylvania's Legislature should work toward finding solutions to our broken federal immigration system," Linares testified.

Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Cranberry, the committee chairman, said members will meet after the House returns to session the last week of this month and debate which bills they want to make a priority or amend.

During the first half of 2011, 1,592 bills dealing with immigration were introduced in the 50 states -- up 16 percent over the first half of 2010, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures in Denver. As of June 30, more than 150 bills had passed in 40 states. Eighteen states now have the E-Verify system for employers that Pennsylvania is considering.

"Pennsylvanians don't want to spend $1.4 billion a year on people who shouldn't be in the state in the first place," Metcalfe said.

Metcalfe based his figure on information provided to the committee by the Federation for American Immigration Reform.

Jack Martin, special projects director for that group, testified that Pennsylvania's illegal alien population is about 140,000. The $1.4 billion annual cost is from K-12 schooling for children of immigrants, English language instruction, and free or reduced-price school meals. Other costs include law enforcement, incarceration and general government expenses for transportation and safety.

Pennsylvania faces many challenges, but the "inflow of hardworking immigrants isn't one of them," said Daniel Griswold, director of the Cato Institute's center for trade policy studies.

Pennsylvania ranks 30th among the states with foreign-born residents. In 2009, about 5.5 percent of residents were immigrants, compared with 12.5 percent nationally, he said. Pennsylvania ranks 40th among the states with illegal immigrants at 1.3 percent of the population, compared with 4 percent nationwide, said Griswold, citing figures from the Pew Hispanic Center.

But states such as Pennsylvania have no choice but to enact legislation minimizing adverse effects of the federal government's lack of enforcement, said Michael Bekesha, an attorney at Judicial Watch in Washington.

"Although Americans overwhelmingly want the rule of law enforced, the federal government continues to look for ways to avoid enforcing the law," Bekesha testified.

Kay Hollabaugh said she employs "hardworking and polite" people to pick fruit at her family's Adams County fruit farm. Many domestic applicants won't take the jobs, she said. "I have grown very resentful of the attitude that immigrant laborers have no place in our country," Hollabaugh said.

If broad legislation becomes law, there's little chance her business can survive, she said. "We do not reduce wages" or tolerate "adverse working conditions," she said.

Hollabaugh contends the E-Verify system is flawed and will create nothing but headaches for small businesses.

Said Hollabaugh, "If we are required to use E-Verify system and if our workers are found to be illegal, where is the work force that is ready to step to the plate to harvest our fruits and vegetables?"

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsbu ... 55126.html

Bill would get tough on illegal immigrants

By ERIC BOEHM
PA Independent
September 06, 2011

HARRISBURG — The economic impact of Pennsylvania's illegal immigrant community is at the center of legislation proposed by some Republicans who want to join Arizona and other states in cracking down on illegal immigration.

Proponents of the bills say illegal immigration directly affects the three largest chunks of the state's discretionary spending: public education, public welfare and corrections.

Opponents say illegal immigrants are not the cause of the state's economic problems and evicting them would be bad for the state's economy.

The bills in the state House package include: requiring photo identification for public benefits; directing businesses to use a federal registration system known as E-Verify to ensure workers are American citizens; and allow law enforcement to check for photo identification randomly, similar to controversial legislation passed in Arizona last year.

While the federal government is responsible for controlling and regulating immigration, Republican state lawmakers nationwide are starting to take the issue into their own hands, citing a lack of responsiveness from Washington.

"Every state in the nation is affected by illegal immigration when we're talking about federal taxpayer money," said state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Butler, chairman of the House State Government Committee and a leading sponsor of the package.

He said the state's illegal immigrant population costs taxpayers about $1 billion each year, citing information from the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which supports stronger immigration policy.

About 150,000 of Pennsylvania's 12 million residents are estimated to be illegal immigrants, with about 110,000 of them having jobs, according to the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington, D.C.-based policy center.

Steven Camarota, director of research for the center, told the House State Government Committee that if the bills became law, they would encourage illegal immigrants to return to their native countries or settle in other states, freeing up jobs for unemployed Pennsylvanians.

Daniel Griswold, an expert on trade and immigration with the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank based in Washington, D.C., said studies conducted in North Carolina and Texas found that illegal immigrants impose additional costs on state and local governments, but they are net contributors at the state level when factoring in taxes.

Griswold said he shared the frustration of state lawmakers who are unhappy with the federal government's failure to address immigration reform, but said congressional action was the best way to fix the problems.

The bill in the state that has seen action is a measure from state Senate President Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson, to require photo identification before anyone in Pennsylvania can collect public benefits.

http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.d ... 8/-1/rss01