Brent Siegrist, speaker of the Iowa House of Representatives, told a Latino Studies class Thursday morning that lawmakers are working to help minorities feel at home in Iowa.

“Iowa is 94 percent white,” he said. “And the fastest growing minority in the state is the Latino population.”

The state’s English as a Second Language program was developed to help school-aged bi-lingual children successfully complete school, Siegrist said.

“As policy makers, we need to take some of that animosity away from people who feel like [English as a second language] users put a stress on social services and the community,” he said.

Siegrist said Iowa needs to have more minorities.

“My first focus is bringing back former Iowans to the state,” he said. “Secondly, we need to welcome immigrants in our state.”

In fact, Iowa has established minority welcome centers.

“The welcome centers enable minorities to find all the resources they need,” Siegrist said.

Members of the Latino population are becoming a strong political force, he said. Storm Lake recently elected the city’s first Latino to the city council, and a Latina woman is also a part of the Council Bluffs City Council, he said.

“Latinos and minorities in general need to have someone in the House that they can feel comfortable talking to,” Siegrist said.

Jose Amaya, assistant professor of English, said it is important to know students can ask questions of their representatives.

“It’s useful and intriguing to have elected officials in the classroom available to answer questions,” said Amaya, who invited Siegrist to speak to his class for the second year in a row. “I do this to remind the students that their opinions, influences and aspirations are important.”

Amaya said students feel remote from the government and don’t know they have the ability to ask questions.

“It’s good for students to be able to ask questions of their elected official,” said Amaya. “That’s education, pure and simple.”