A Senate-backed plan to require businesses to tell the state if they hire aliens got a rough reception in its first House hearing.
NHPR's Josh Rogers has more.
The NH house has so far killed of several plans to better police illegal immigrants…..But supporters of the latest proposal insist this one's different. Senate Majority leader Bob Clegg testified that the goal is not to punish people who work in this country without permission, but simply to ensure all workers are treated fairly.
"What you have before you is about employers who hire undocumented workers for the sole purpose of paying them less and paying them no benefits. As a people in the senate, we said we're not going to allow that anymore. If hire people, you've got to treat them right, you've got to pay them the same, you got to give theme the benefit, you can't take advantage of them just because there here illegally."
Apart from concern for the working man, Clegg says the proposal's prime concern is controlling the cost of health care……To make this point, Clegg highlighted the burden he says uninsured alien workers place on the state's health care system……….
"We have 300 million dollars of uncompensated care a year….I don't think you can say the great majority is the immigrant population, but it's a good section of it."
What constitutes a good section of 300 million dollars is of course open for interpretation, but that figure…..includes all Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement shortfalls -- programs for which one has to be a citizen to qualify……Factor those out, and uncompensated care at NH hospitals last year totaled 86 million dollars…..How much of that can be attributed to illegal immigrants is anyone guess……..But some believe Clegg's claim strains the state's democraphic facts…..
"Illegal immigrants are not a burden."
That's Dicky Desai…..He moved to NH from India in 1989, and has been a US citizen since 1995…..The engineering consultant and Motel owner says no matter how supporters attempt to justify them, the spate of immigration related bills this year aim to discriminate.
"In NH 96 percent are white, and only 1.7 percent of the people are Hispanic…..do we even have a problem here?"
Business and labor groups also had problems with the bill…..They say it's redundant at best…….State law already forbids knowingly hiring illegal immigrants…….And employers that do so can be fined $1000 dollars a day. John Young directs the NE Apple Growers Council……..He told house members than federal law prohibits employers from asking employees for anything more than a drivers license and proof of social security number……..He says seeking to verify that those are accurate would be both difficult and potentially illegal.
"I, as an employers under the existing law, the Immigration and Reform act of 1986, cannot ask for more documents. I cannot say let me see your green card, let me see your birth certificate…I have to take the documents that they give me."
Young added the net effect of the bill would likely be to force all businesses to register with the state because it would be impossible to know if they employed aliens…….While supporters pointed to a provision in the bill that says enforcement action would only be taken if the Commissioner of labor found the employer had not made a good faith effort to comply…….Critics said such language was far too vague……Merrimack Immigration Attorney Randall Drew.
"What this law does is make employers nervous about hiring legal aliens, because they look at this law and say 2500 dollar a day penalties, I'm just going to stay out if this business entirely. And then some lawyer who gets paid a lot more money than I do will say: 'You didn't hire this person because they are an alien, well they are lawfully here and able to work." You've got a lawsuit on your hands."
The House Criminal Justice and Public Safety committee will likely vote on the measure by Thursday……It then move on the full house.
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