John Hope Bryant: “if they are coming to get a job and they have kids, the kids are coming. Do we want, as a matter of national policy, to…”

“if they are coming to get a job and they have kids, the kids are coming. Do we want, as a matter of national policy, to have these kids wandering the streets? We might hear it said in a moment, well, the new version of this does not require that, it simply says the States can keep them out of school or can charge them tuition prospectively, beginning, I believe, with the class of next year. It does not make any difference. How many of these kids can pay tuition? Zero. They cannot pay tuition. Second, if there is any possibility that their being in school is going to result in any type of notice being taken of them or their parents by the Immigration Service, they are not going to bring the kids to school. Some of my colleagues might say that is great, that is exactly what we want. I ask them to think again. That is not what we want. That is not what the police departments want, that is not what the school districts want. Nobody gives this a second thought. We cannot afford to have a huge population of kids, no matter who their parents are, on the streets. Ultimately, that is exactly where this is going to lead. That is why every responsible institution in this country has said, do not pass this amendment; it sounds good, but it will cause an enormous amount of trouble. I urge Members to look twice at this. I also urge them to take a look at how the public views this matter.”