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Pennsylvania House of Representatives
https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm?chamber=H&SPick=20130&cosponId=15368
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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda

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House of Representatives
Session of 2013 - 2014 Regular Session

MEMORANDUM

Posted: October 16, 2014 09:38 AM
From: Representative Daryl D. Metcalfe
To: All House members
Subject: State Response to Unaccompanied Illegal Alien Youth
 
In the near future I will introduce legislation that defends state’s rights by suspending all Pennsylvania-issued licenses of any care facility entering into a contract with President Barack Obama’s Office of Refugee Resettlement to provide housing to unaccompanied illegal alien youth.

Since October 2013, 66,000 unaccompanied illegal alien youth crossed the United States’ border. The year prior, only 35,000 crossed the border. Teenagers account for 84 percent, although the number of younger youth making the journey is increasing rapidly.

President Obama is largely and directly responsible for this unprecedented surge in illegal immigration of alien youth. Unclear immigration directives from the administration encourage adolescents to make the dangerous journey. Charging an average of $8,000 per person, Central America’s network of human smugglers and drug traffickers are experiencing an economic boom by transporting these youths to the U.S. border.

The Office of Refugee Resettlement contracts with private facilities to house unaccompanied illegal alien youth after they are taken into custody at the border. Office of Refugee Resettlement requires these facilities maintain state-issued licenses necessary to provide youth housing, medical care and education.

Suspending the licenses of care facilities entering into contracts with the Office of Refugee Resettlement would nullify eligibility for the contract, and also disqualifies the facilities from housing other youth. This legislation will also prohibit any contracts between the Commonwealth and the Office of Refugee Resettlement to house unaccompanied illegal alien youth in state-owned facilities.

Pennsylvania residents have expressed concerns that unaccompanied illegal alien youth entering the Commonwealth could be carrying contagious diseases and that older youth could be members of violent gangs. The Office of Refugee Resettlement has not released any information of possible criminal background or medical information of youth sent to facilities in communities throughout the Commonwealth.

At this time there are approximately 500 unaccompanied illegal alien youth residing in Pennsylvania. According to the Federation for American Immigration Reform, to educate these youth in the state’s public school system could cost Pennsylvanians approximately $11 million. The Commonwealth’s taxpayers simply cannot afford to absorb the cost to participate in this federal program.

I consider it a moral obligation that Pennsylvania refrains from participation in this federal program that provides no real long-term solutions to U.S. immigration policy or border security. Please join me in co-sponsoring this legislation.



Introduced as HB2553