State House hearings focus on illegal immigrants
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HARRISBURG -- House Republicans opened hearings yesterday on a subject that many officials see as a legislative quagmire: How can the state crack down on illegal immigrants without violating people's rights or hurting companies that need the workers?
By fall, the House Republican Policy Committee hopes to draft new legislation to prevent "foreign criminals, terrorists and drug dealers" from illegally entering Pennsylvania. It also wants to keep state-paid benefits, such as workers' compensation, unemployment benefits and low-income health insurance, from going to people who illegally enter the state and hide behind fake identification.
At the same time, legislators say they don't want to unfairly penalize poor people who come here seeking a better life or the employers who give them jobs.
Yesterday, the committee held the first of four hearings on the issue of immigrants and their potential impact on state welfare and medical spending. Legislators said their work is complicated by jurisdictional problems. Federal immigration officials historically have been the group responsible for finding and arresting illegal immigrants and then deporting them.
American Civil Liberties Union official Larry Frankel cautioned that immigration reform "is primarily and fundamentally a federal issue" and should be handled "in a manner that is uniform throughout the country."
But Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Cranberry, said the federal government has failed in preventing immigrants from illegally entering the U.S. and so it's time for the state to act on its own.
Washington "has been AWOL in providing a real solution to illegal immigration," he said.
Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli criticized federal immigration agents for not doing enough to arrest and deport illegal immigrants he tells them about in the Lehigh Valley.
He said some local companies, especially construction firms, "harbor illegal immigrants," pay them substandard wages "under the table" and don't withhold state income taxes. He's gotten complaints from construction trade unions whose members can't get jobs.
"I don't want Northampton County becoming a safe house for illegal immigrants and foreign criminals," said Mr. Morganelli.
Legislators are considering imposing criminal penalties on companies that knowingly hire illegal immigrants, firms that fail to check the validity of workers' Social Security cards and green cards, and firms that don't withhold state taxes from paychecks.
Rep. Steven Barrar, R-Delaware, said he was dismayed to learn that many immigrants enter the country illegally and then spend $700 or more on false Social Security cards and other identification from forgers in New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia.
But other speakers said the federal and state government should make it easier for the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in America to go through naturalization procedures and become legal U.S. citizens.
Diane Topkapian, an official of the Service Employees International Union, which represents 60,000 health care, janitorial and public service workers in the state, many of them immigrants, said citizenship procedures need to be streamlined.
"Our broken immigration system denies 12 million hard-working, taxpaying immigrants a way to earn citizenship and allows employers to exploit workers without legal status," she said.
"We know that immigrant families are strong families that value hard work," she said. "Any (Pennsylvania) legislation that is perceived to be hostile to immigrants will prompt them to settle in other, friendlier states."
She said that would especially hurt Pennsylvania, where the workforce is rapidly aging. She also urged a federal rather than a state solution.
The ACLU's Mr. Frankel urged the panel to be cautious in any "crackdown." He said immigrants make "significant contributions every day. We should be proud that people want to come here."
He noted a "big split" among state residents. Some "see immigrants as an opportunity for Pennsylvania and others see them as threats. We should welcome immigrants and figure out how to integrate them into our society."
The GOP panel will hold several more hearings around the state this summer, including one Aug. 2 in Cranberry.
First Published July 19, 2006 12:00 am
