Mar. 10, 2016
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania House State Government Committee Majority Chairman, Representative Daryl Metcalfe (R-Butler), has reintroduced his legislation to require all Commonwealth employers and government entities to enroll in the federal government’s free E-Verify program to confirm the validity of Social Security numbers for prospective employees.
Modeled after the Legal Arizona Workers Act that was recently upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, under House Bill 1894, failure to comply would result in the immediate suspension of all licenses, permits, registrations or certificates held by any private business caught employing illegal aliens. Passage of this legislation would further enhance a 2012 state law that requires all state contractors and subcontractors to confirm the working status of their employees through E-Verify.
“With the very real and growing national security risk of ISIS terrorists using the flood of so-called refugees as camouflage to infiltrate our borders, now is the time to take further legislative action to discourage illegal aliens from making Pennsylvania their destination point,” said Metcalfe. “Requiring all Commonwealth employers to use E-Verify is a proven mechanism to guarantee that only American citizens and others legally authorized to work here are employed in Pennsylvania.
Working with Rep. Dom Costa (D-Allegheny) who is the first co-sponsor of House Bill 1894, Metcalfe also noted that there is increasing bipartisan support to hold all state employers to a higher level of accountability in terms of their hiring practices.
“Nationally recognized job creators such as Einstein Bros. Bagels, which has a location in my legislative district, and the more than 9,500 employers across the Commonwealth who are already voluntarily using E-Verify should be applauded for going the extra mile to ensure they are not hiring illegal aliens at the expense of hard-working Pennsylvania citizens and other legal immigrants,” said Metcalfe. “This legislation is necessary because there are still far too many businesses that are fraudulently relying on what I call the ‘wink-and-a nod’ test to knowingly put illegal aliens on their payrolls. Given the fact that E-Verify is absolutely free and the best means available for accurately determining employment eligibility, there is no excuse for failing to comply and there needs to be tough penalties for anyone who refuses to do so.”
The PEW Hispanic Research Center estimates that 8 million illegal aliens are currently employed in the workforce out of the 11.2 million illegally residing in the United States.
“Protecting the economic and national security interests of law-abiding American citizens and legal immigrants must always come first,” said Metcalfe. “That starts by securing our borders and then implementing programs such as E-Verify to shut off the economic faucets of jobs and public welfare benefits that are luring these illegal alien invaders to America in the first place.”
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Representative Daryl Metcalfe
12th District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Media Contact: Ty McCauslin
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