New Haven Pushes ​“Dream”

The talk in Hartford Tuesday was about the dreams of immigrants’ children in Connecticut. New Haven’s lawmakers were doing much of the talking.

The talk was about a bill before the legislature that would allow children of immigrants to attend state colleges at the same in-state rate that other Connecticut residents pay. The bill mirrors the proposed federal DREAM Act.

The legislature’s Higher Education and Employment Advancement Committee held an hours-long hearing on the bill Tuesday. New Haven’s state legislators lined up at the hearing, and at a press conference beforehand, to support the bill as a ​“moral” crusade. New Haven Mayor John DeStefano traveled to Hartford to add his voice. So did Quinnipiac University student Lorella Praeli, an undocumented immigrant originally from Peru.

When the U.S. Senate vote on the relief for undocumented minors fell five votes short, ​“we were told to wait to put our dreams on hold,” she said. ​“Ladies and gentlemen our dreams are too important, too valuable to put on hold.”

She asked lawmakers to ignore the ​“empty arguments” of those that say ​“we are not deserving,” or who argue ​“we’d be taking up spots of Connecticut residents.”

“We are residents of the state of Connecticut,” said Praeli, who ​“came out of the shadows” as an undocumented immigrant at a New Haven event last November. She explained that many people like her have gone to school in the state for many years, some like her sister, since kindergarten.

“We can not change federal immigration policy, but we can do something right here in our state by making some of these dreams a reality,” she said.

Praeli has said she was lucky enough to land a full ride to Quinnipiac University through a private scholarship. Otherwise, she would have had to pay three times the rate of in-state tuition at an in-state college or university.

State Rep. Vincent Candelora, R‑North Branford, said the state would be educating a workforce employers won’t be able to hire in Connecticut. He also said there’s likely to be a legal challenge to the legislation, if it’s passed.

Katie Chamblee, a Yale Law School student, said California has passed similar language and it withstood a Supreme Court challenge in that state last year. She said she’s confident the courts in Connecticut would reject any challenge of the law. She said it’s clearly in compliance with federal law, which allows states to make its own laws.

“Nothing is more truly American than the dream that these young people are pursing,“ said New Haven state Sen. Martin Looney. Proponents like Looney argued these undocumented students shouldn’t be punished for what their parents did. ​“In many cases these children have no memory of the countries they lived in prior to coming to the United States,” he said. 

“It’s more than a social issue,” said New Haven state Rep. Juan Candelaria, one of the bill’s most passionate proponents. ​“It’s a moral issue.”

Click here to read a full story on today’s events.