NORWALK, Conn. – Norwalkers had a strong presence, as expected, Wednesday night at Gov. Dannel Malloy’s town hall in Norwalk — the first on his 2014 tour — beginning with a 16-year-old Brien McMahon High School student with a controversial status.
“I am undocumented,” Junior Sierra said. “I came to the U.S. at the age of 6. … What are you going to be doing to help my dreams become reality so I can contribute to Connecticut and the United States?”
Malloy stood in front of a crowded City Hall community room, fielding comments from at least five Norwalk residents, Norwalk Federation of Teachers President Bruce Mellion and a representative of a union fighting to help immigrants laid off from their jobs cleaning the Maritime Aquarium. He also took heat from people who had driven a bit to get here.
Junior, who goes to the Center for Global Studies, said he won a Norwalk science fair, then won again at the state level. He qualified for a $20,000 scholarship to Quinnipiac College, but his undocumented status disqualifies him, he said.
“What initiative will you be taking to help this community of students go to college?” he asked.
Malloy said Connecticut passed the Dream Act shortly after he become governor.
“I think the reality is America has to deal with this issue. … I can’t condone what your parents did but the reality is you have been here for a long period of time and you’re not going anywhere. We shouldn’t be cutting off our nose to spite our face on the prospect that you are going to go anywhere,” Malloy said.
The governor suggested that maybe Junior could get a governor’s scholarship, which drew Malloy a rebuke from an unidentified later in the hour-plus-long session of questions.
“My heart goes out to him that he is not afforded opportunities that lawful citizens and lawful residents are afforded,” said Linda C. Zaplinski. “But the appropriate response should have been that ‘Young man, I am very sorry that this is the plight you are in but your parents should have thought about that before they crossed these borders illegally.”
Malloy said he agreed America should control its borders but the young man is here and he isn’t going anywhere.
“He may be a person who can contribute to this country quite a bit,” he said. “Should we deny him?”
Other comments were less controversial.
Mellion thanked Malloy for working to lower the taxes on teachers’ pensions. Malloy said that would make those pensions a more fair comparison to Social Security, which teachers are not eligible for.
Mellion also thanked Malloy for moving universal pre-K forward.
Malloy said there will be 1,000 more pre-K seats available this year. “Those thousand spaces that we will make available this year will be primarily go to Priority School Districts, one of which is Norwalk,” he said.
A Norwalk Community College student, Marcel Fontaine, said there are no jobs available, and asked if taxes and “costly regulations” could be decreased for small businesses.
“We are working to find ways to bring tax relief as the economy recovers slowly,” Malloy said. “That’s the heart of the matter. In a state where we had failed to have net job growth for 22 years we continue to have slower growth than I would like to see,” Malloy said.
Carmen Sargent, a representative of 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) made a statement of support, reminding Malloy of all the things he has done that has earned him the best wishes of union members. Watching were at least five unemployed 32BJ members, former cleaners at the Maritime Aquarium, who have been trying to get their jobs back with the help of city officials.
They had been cleaning the Maritime Aquarium for years before the aquarium terminated its contract with the company they worked for.
Malloy has been a champion of hard-working immigrants, Sargent said, making “the American dream come true for those who are willing to work for it.”
“I didn’t know you were going to be here and say those things. As nice as you were you probably got me in trouble,” Malloy said.
Norwalk activist Larry Johnston said Malloy had promised him that he would look in on non-profits organizations who are not adhering to the statements they made when they applied for state money.
“I am frustrated with state government,” Malloy said. “That some agencies get written in the state budget as receiving X number of dollars … regardless or without anyone actually looking or examining performance on a year to year basis. I have expressed that frustration. I believe everyone needs to be held to a standard. You should be able to tell me what you have done for the people in the state of Connecticut when you are getting that money or that money should be competitively lent as opposed to being written into state documents. You know I tried to make that change.”
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