Our view: Citizenship verification bill needs some work
Public Opinion Online
Posted: 04/03/2009 02:00:00 AM EDT

No matter where one might stand on illegal immigration, a little thought on the matter reveals some potential problems with legislation that cleared the state Senate on Wednesday.

Senate Bill 9 passed the Senate on a 41-9 vote, as lawmakers rushed to support a bill to deny public benefits such as Medicaid, welfare and in-state college tuition to illegal aliens.

The bill would also require everyone requesting public benefits to provide identification proving they are legal residents, and sign an affidavit affirming as much. That affidavit would be verified through the federal Systematic Alien Verification of Entitlement Program (SAVE), now operated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

This bill has its heart in the right place, insofar as no one should illegally benefit from the taxpayer-funded assistance system. But it fails to address some crucial, practical issues inherent to such fraud.

The entire premise of the bill hinges on valid identification. But those illegals who do defraud the system already possess effective identification, and already elude a SAVE Program that's existed since 1984.

That being the case, those who say the bill is redundant might have a point. Adding an affidavit to the equation only lays groundwork for punitive measures, while very likely slowing verification and increasing its costs. Furthermore, a quick review of the SAVE Program shows so many exceptions that it's not hard to see how resourceful illegals or the companies who hire them slip through the cracks.

Finally -- in a nasty poser for those who are both anti-illegal and anti-spending -- it will cost millions for the state to implement, according to people in Gov. Ed Rendell's office.

In the short-term, we think it would be more effective to spend time, money and effort developing tamper-proof identification and targeting those who falsify identification documents in the meantime. From a big-picture perspective, until the federal government takes an effective role in border enforcement and discouraging the real source of illegal immigration -- companies that employ them -- we will always have this problem.

Dreaming up expensive, redundant ideas that might not work -- just to pacify those willing to accept bad policy to do something, anything, about a problem that's not really a state issue in the first place -- is not the answer.

-- By Matthew Major, on behalf of Public Opinion's editorial board
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