Pennsylvania Legislature Advances Historic Legislation to Shutoff Jobs and Public Benefits for Illegal Aliens
HARRISBURG — House State Government Committee Majority Chairman and State Legislators for Legal Immigration founder, Representative Daryl Metcalfe (R-Butler) commended the bipartisan majority of House members who joined with him in voting to advance two historic measures (
Senate Bills 9 and 637) from his National Security Begins at Home legislative package.
“There are no innocent illegal aliens because their very first step across the border is a criminal violation of federal immigration law,” said Representative Metcalfe. “After that they must break law after law in order to survive, including, but certainly not limited to, committing welfare fraud and stealing jobs from taxpaying Pennsylvania citizens.”
Senate Bill 9 will require any individual applying for public benefits to provide state or federally issued identification. Applicants must also sign an affidavit that he or she is a United States citizen, legally permanent resident or lawfully present in the United States according to federal law. The legislation will also require any state agency administering public benefits to verify the legal status of every non-citizen applying for benefits through the federal
Systematic Alien Verification of Entitlement (SAVE) program.
Last year, the Pennsylvania Office of the Auditor General uncovered
$3.3 million in public benefits awarded to ineligible recipients. This includes reports of Pennsylvania
Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) cards being used throughout North America and local police discovering them in the possession of illegal aliens. To address these issues, Metcalfe sponsored an amendment to Senate Bill 9 which will create a third-degree felony offense for any illegal aliens possessing or using an
EBT card.
Senate Bill 637 will require all public works contractors and subcontractors, both state and local, to utilize the free federal E-Verify system to verify the employment eligibility of each new employee. The
Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) estimates that more than 128,000 jobs have been stolen by illegal aliens residing in Pennsylvania. Once Senate Bill 637 is signed into law, Pennsylvania will be the
first state in the
Northeastern United States to enact legislation to require
E-Verify.
“Since the federal government remains AWOL in fulfilling its constitutional obligation to defend the states against foreign invasion, Pennsylvania state lawmakers have no choice but to stand together to advance the National Security Begins at Home package,” said Metcalfe. “Final passage of both pieces of legislation will serve as a significant economic deterrent to Pennsylvania’s illegal alien invasion.”
Senate Bills 9 and 637 have been advanced to the Senate for their concurrence vote and are anticipated to be sent to the governor’s desk. For the latest
National Security Begins at Home updates visit
www.RepMetcalfe.com and
www.StateLegislatorsforLegalImmigration.com.
State Representative Daryl Metcalfe
12th District, Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Contact: Ty McCauslin
tmccausl@pahousegop.com
717.772.9979