The impact of minorities in Iowa is expected to increase in the near future, said Republican Brent Siegrist, speaker of the Iowa House of Representatives, at Iowa State Thursday morning.

Siegrist spoke to about 50 students about Latino history and culture in Iowa in an Introduction to U.S. Latina/o Studies course. The course is taught by Jose Amaya, assistant professor of English.

Siegrist, who currently is pursuing his master’s degree at Iowa State, spoke about the expected lack of workers in Iowa and possible growth in the state’s minority population, which he said will become a bigger issue in Iowa.

“My job is to run the House and be the key policy maker, to make policies for the state,” he said. “As we look to the future, one of the key issues is going to be minorities in the state. Immigration is going to change the way our state is.”

A growing number of minorities are moving to Iowa because of the job opportunities the state can offer them, Siegrist said.

“The biggest problem in Iowa is we don’t have any workers,” he said. “We’ve got to try to bring workers into the state. We’re trying to bring in former Iowans . but the answer is bringing immigrants into the state. I don’t care where they come from. We need more productive workers in Iowa.”

Siegrist also said some Iowans may be resistant to a large number of minority workers moving into the state.

“The growing influx of minorities in the state is something that I think is good, but presents some problems because Iowans aren’t really fond of change,” he said. “Iowans need to embrace change and know that immigration is coming.”

Siegrist said with the growing number of minorities living in Iowa and other states, a bill should not be passed to make English the official language of the country.

“English is the official language,” he said. “The bill doesn’t do anything. Why would we offend the minority population by passing a bill that doesn’t do anything? The overall tone would be offensive. Some people would take it as a law that says English is the only way.”