Pennsylvania Bill Aims to Keep Contractors from Hiring Illegal Immigrants

Bill requires contractors to check employees' immigration status

Craig Layne Multimedia Journalist

5:18 PM EDT, June 7, 2010

HARRISBURG - State lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are pushing legislation that would make building contractors check the immigration status of their employees.

If the contractors hire illegals, they could lose state contracts or their licenses and certifications.

Backers of the House Bills 1502 and 1503 said the measures would punish contractors who exploit cheap, illegal labor.

"The illegal alien invasion can only be stopped one way, and that's for our government to shut down the economic faucet that draws them here in the first place," Pa. Rep. Daryl Metcalfe (R - 12th District) said.

Metcalfe in May introduced an immigration bill based on Arizona's controversial immigration law.

Opponents claim the bills targeting the construction industry are more government regulations being forced on businesses that are having enough problems in the struggling economy.

"They should be passing legislation that we favor to reduce our costs, and not be moving legislation that increases our costs and our burdens," Louis Biacchi, director of government affairs for the Pennsylvania Builders Association, said.

Biacchi said he also worries about the accuracy of E-Verify, the federal government's system that checks immigration status using social security numbers.

Pa. Rep. John Galloway, sponsor of the bills, insisted E-Verify was accurate and was improving in its ability to find illegal immigrants.

Galloway said 14 states had similar laws to the ones he has proposed.

The Center for Immigration Studies estimated in April there were between 18,000 and 35,000 illegal construction workers in Pennsylvania.

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