E-Verify Legislation Leads to Strange Political Alliances

By Caleb Taylor | PA Independent

An attempt to require Pennsylvania businesses to use a federal database to verify the immigration status of workers is creating strange political bedfellows at the state Capitol.

Republicans have two bills, Senate Bill 637 and House Bill 858, that would require that private businesses use the E-Verify system, an Internet-based system that allows an employer to determine the eligibility of an employee to work in the United States. 

Democrats and business groups oppose these proposals, saying the bills would place a costly and unnecessary burden on employers and employees.

But Republicans are aligned with powerful labor unions in pushing the proposals, which they say protect Pennsylvania workers from being undercut by illegal workers who accept lower wages. 

Supporters say E-Verify helps enforce anti-illegal immigration laws, but others see the system as a form of national identification and a power grab by the federal government. 

Under SB 637, introduced by state Sen. Kim Ward, R-Westmoreland, only private employers that receive a state contract would be required to use E-Verify. 

All private employers and governmental entities in Pennsylvania under HB 858, introduced by state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Butler, would be obligated to use the system. 

State Rep. Rob Kauffman, R-Franklin, said E-Verify would discourage illegal immigration to Pennsylvania by limiting their job opportunities. 

“It wouldn’t be of great cost to private businesses, because the system is out there to simply check on the status of a worker,” said Kauffman. “It’s actually a simplified system, but requires that businesses do that because one of the things that attracts illegals to the Commonwealth is the opportunity of jobs.” 

Oddly enough, labor unions agree with conservatives on this one. 

Frank Sirianni, president of the Pennsylvania Building and Construction Trades Council, a union representing 115 local construction unions in the state, said he supports the E-Verify system, because hiring illegal immigrants “takes jobs away from people who are here legally.” 

“Workers should be documented,” said Sirianni. “Our goal is to make sure state funds go back to Pennsylvania workers.” 

But state Rep. Babette Josephs, D-Philadelphia, said E-Verify adds more costs to businesses and is a “burden and restraint on businesses.” 

Samuel Denisco, vice president of government affairs for the Chamber of Business and Industry, an organization that lobbies on behalf of business interests, said the chamber doesn’t support the “large mandate on employers to use E-Verify” in Metcalfe’s bill. 

“We are not sure (E-Verify) is 100 percent accurate,” said Denisco.  

Employers are not be charged for using E-Verify, which is operated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the federal Social Security Administration. 

However, using E-Verify is voluntary. State law in Alabama, Arizona, Mississippi and Utah requires employers to E-Verify. 

Adding to the complicated political equations, some tea party groups opposed the E-Verify requirements. 

Ana Puig and Anastasia Przybylski, members of Kitchen Table Patriots, a tea party group in Bucks County, along with 27 other conservative and limited-government groups, wrote a letter to Congress opposing a federal bill that would require employers to use E-Verify. 

They said the legislation could lead to a “de facto national identification system,” a federal database that would have the personal information of all United States citizens. 

Andy Hoover, legislative director for the Pennsylvania chapter of the ACLU, said concerns about E-Verify turning into a national identification system were not unfounded, because “government programs tend to expand over time.” 

The most recent study of E-Verify in 2010 by Westat, a corporation that provides research services to the federal government, found that 0.7 percent of all E-Verify cases mistakenly found authorized workers with proper documentation to be ineligible for employment. 

Under Metcalfe’s bill, failure to enroll in the system would result in the suspension of all business licenses, permits, registrations and certificates held by a private business. The same penalty would apply if a private business employed an illegal immigrant. 

The suspension would end once the employer complied with the legislation’s requirements. Subsequent violations would result in a suspension of at least 20 days. 

Under Ward’s bill, employers would receive a warning for non-compliance on the first offense. A second offense could lead to termination of the public contract and a fine of up to $2,000.