U.S. Border Control

PA Congressional candidate hits opponent over company's illegal immigration fines

March 19, 2008

One day after their first public debate, Republican 10th District congressional candidates Chris Hackett and Dan Meuser sparred over a 1997 fine Meuser paid for employing illegal immigrants at the company he and his family own.

Meuser’s company, which was called Pride Health Care Inc. at the time and is now known as Pride Mobility Inc., was fined $41,000 by the department of Naturalization and Immigration Services for “unknowingly” hiring three illegal immigrants who falsified identification forms, Meuser said. The company paid $23,000 to settle that and other issues.

But in a news release issued by Hackett’s campaign Tuesday, former Wayne County District Attorney Mark Zimmer said employers can only be fined if they “knowingly” hire illegal immigrants and could only be fined $2,000 per undocumented worker.

“I think the question ultimately is that there is more to this story and he should release the documents and this will all be over,” Hackett’s spokesman Mark Harris said. “The longer the documents aren’t being released, the more questions are raised.”

Meuser and Hackett are vying for the Republican nomination in the 10th district, which includes parts of Lackawanna and Luzerne counties and spans from the New York-Pennsylvania border to Shamokin. The winner of the April 22 primary will face incumbent Chris Carney, D-Dimock Township, who is unopposed in the primary.

In a statement released by his campaign Tuesday evening, Meuser said his company hired three illegal immigrants who presented false identification, but the INS believed additional American workers had incomplete employment eligibility forms.

“We agreed to the $23,000 fine to take responsibility for all of the records, but again only three were illegal aliens,” Meuser said in the statement.

Zimmer, a supporter of Hackett, wrote Meuser a letter requesting he release any legal documents pertaining to the case. Zimmer cited a study conducted by the Center for Immigration Studies, a think tank that seeks lower immigration into the U.S., that shows Pride Health Care with 58 violations.

Meuser’s spokesman Eric Wallace accused Hackett of breaking his promise to run a “positive campaign,” and that Tuesday’s news release answers all questions on the matter.

“At this point it’s further political gamesmanship on their behalf,” Wallace said. “They’re only interested in scoring additional political points and not address the issues of the campaign.”

Illegal immigration has been one of the key issues of Meuser’s campaign, and he has called for America to “secure its borders.”