From the debate on a bill to allow children of immigrants who attend Connecticut high schools for four years and then graduate to pay in-state tuition at public colleges and universities - transcript of the Connecticut House of Representatives - May 17, 2007:

REP. BARTLETT: (2nd)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of this Amendment. Being from Bethel and representative a piece of Danbury, Connecticut with some trepidation when I was first asked about this issue if I would be supporting it. Danbury has some politicians that have really taken advantage and made immigration a divisive issue in my opinion.

Recently we had the World Cup and we had people parading in the streets and they were not necessarily U. S. citizens and now we have a parade ordinance. We had folks playing volleyball and people had problems with that, and so we have a volleyball ordinance. We also have had ICE come into the city and raid people.

So it has been divisive and with all that being in the background, I still have to ask myself, what is the right thing to do?

And what is the issue at hand and how should I approach this and do the right thing? And I think that the right thing to do is to not deny children of the opportunity to further their education.

I think that's the right thing to do. I've heard a lot about subsidizing this afternoon in terms of giving discounts or subsidizing higher education. But what we really need to look at, in my opinion, is what kind of investment are we making in our young people?

These are people that have been here, they've graduated from our high schools and unless people are suggesting that ICE comes in and rounds them up and takes them off, they're going to be here in our society.

So why are we going to deny them the opportunity for an education? I say that in the aggregate, that is a good investment and a good use of our public dollars, however you want to slice it.

The first phone call that I got when I announced that I would support this was from someone who was not too happy with me. And they began the conversation by saying these people need to learn how to assimilate.

And I let her talk for about ten minutes, and then I just questioned the first piece of that conversation, and I said, but when someone wants to go on to college and get a degree, are they not trying to assimilate into our society? Isn't that what this is all about? These young people want to assimilate and want to better their lives.

Yesterday we had a report come out and talk about the population trends and where we're going to be in 2030. And in the State of Connecticut we were going to go from 14% of our population being Hispanic to 24%.

And the professor said, in drawing his conclusions, in which I didn't necessarily agree, he said that he thought the state's median income would drop.

And why was that? Because in his conclusion, Hispanics wouldn't have the same educational opportunities. I say that we have an opportunity here to improve our society, to improve our state, to invest in our young people and that's why I hope that we all pass this Bill. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.