Pennsylvania Lawmakers Finally Taking Steps to Put Americans First

There is no question in anyone’s mind that illegal aliens have filled tens of thousands of jobs that would otherwise be filled by American citizens. Even though federal law and many state laws require that businesses to only employ US citizens or legal foreign citizens with the proper authorization, many do not. They tend to hire illegals, pay them cash under the table and at a lower wage than American citizens would make.

Someone once asked what was meant by paying someone under the table, so here it is in a nutshell. When you get your paycheck and see all of the taxes withheld, are you aware that your employers also pay taxes on you? By being paid cash under the table means that the employer does not report that payroll, nor does he or she, pay their part of the taxes. They generally find a way to write off the amount as a loss of some kind to help with their end of year taxes. The illegal receiving the under the table pay also does not report it as income nor do they pay taxes on their earnings. It cheats the federal, state, county and local governments out of necessary revenue which in turn forces them to try to increase your taxes to make up the differences.

A simply system for employers to use in E-Verify. According to their website:

“E-Verify is an Internet-based system that compares information from an employee’s Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, to data from U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Social Security Administration records to confirm employment eligibility.”

“Instant Verification of Employment Eligibility”

“E-Verify’s most impressive features are its speed and accuracy. E-Verify is the only free, fast, online service of its kind that verifies employees’ data against millions of government records and provides results within as little as three to five seconds.”

“Today, E-Verify is: 

• Used nationwide by more than 600,000 employers of all sizes 
• Used at more than 1.9 million hiring sites 
• Joined by about 1,400 new participating companies every week 
• One of the federal government’s highest-rated services for customer satisfaction.”

Pennsylvania lawmakers are taking a number of steps to put American citizens first over illegal aliens and they are requiring private employers to enroll in E-Verify is just one of those steps. According to a recent post:

“Last week, Pennsylvania lawmakers held a press conference to unveil a legislative package aimed at curtailing the harmful effects of illegal immigration in the Commonwealth. (Lifezette, Mar. 13, 2017)”

“Led by Pennsylvania State Representative Daryl Metcalfe, the March 13 ‘National Security Begins at Home’ press conference served as an opportunity for true immigration reformers in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives to discuss ways to reduce and discourage illegal immigration. (witf news, Mar. 16, 2017)”

“The legislative package revealed at the event includes six measures. While not all of the bills have been formally introduced this session, the majority are based on previously introduced legislation. The package includes:”

• House Bill 856, by Representative Daryl Metcalfe, which would prohibit private employers from hiring unauthorized aliens and would require them to enroll in E-Verify;
• House Bill 14, by Representative Jerry Knowles, which would prohibit campuses from instituting sanctuary policies;
• Soon to be reintroduced legislation by Representative Doyle Heffley, which would require benefits administering agencies to use the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program to prevent illegal aliens from obtaining public benefits;
• Soon to be reintroduced legislation by Representative Ryan Warner, which would require state and local law enforcement agencies to comply with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainers;
• Soon to be reintroduced legislation by Representative Rob Kauffman, which would revoke licenses from licensed professionals who knowingly employ or permit employment of unauthorized aliens; and
• Soon to be reintroduced legislation to prohibit sanctuary cities.

According to one source, Philadelphia and 16 of the state’s 67 counties are sanctuary areas for illegal aliens. If passed, that would all end, thankfully. Perhaps with the huge number (11 to 20 million) illegals in the US, it would make sense to require all employers to use E-Verify to make sure that they are only hiring people who have the legal right to work. With that, they need to add extremely harsh, stiff fines for any employers, including restaurants and hotels, caught hiring illegal aliens. After a few companies are slapped with the heavy fines, then more employers, especially smaller ones, will be afraid to continue in their illegal practice.

The best thing about the initiative in Pennsylvania is that there is no Democrat controlled Departments of Justice or Labor to fight the measures.