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Live in Nassau County? Write Your Local Paper About Immigration Reform

Posted February 24, 2010 by Ted Hesson

At the start of this year, Long Island Wins director Maryann Sinclair Slutsky began writing a monthly immigration column for the Anton Community Newspapers, an 18-newspaper chain that stretches across Nassau County.

The column allows Maryann to open up a dialogue about immigration with a hyper-local, non-digital audience (yes, there are still beings on the outside of the LCD screen).

One of the main topics that she’s addressed thus far has been immigration reform, and in her February column, she explained the goals of immigration reform in clear terms, and then listed some of the economic benefits of reform:

According to the Immigration Policy Center, the 1986 immigration reform bill raised wages for all workers and led to increases in educational, home, and small business investments by newly legalized immigrants.

The study showed that immigration reform in 2010 would increase the U.S. GDP by at least 0.84 percent, which translates into at least a cumulative $1.5 trillion in added GDP over 10 years. And with 465,000 Long Island immigrants that means more money for our communities, too.

With our current broken immigration system and enforcement-only strategies, we’re continuing a vicious cycle of unauthorized immigration, which only hurts our economy.

To read the rest of Maryann’s column, click here.

As I mentioned, part of the intent of the column was to kick-start a dialogue about immigration. So with that in mind, we’re encouraging any readers from Nassau County to send feedback about Maryann’s most recent column to the editors at the Anton papers. Whether you agree or disagree with her viewpoint, here’s a chance to make your voice heard (err, read).

All you need to do is:

—Follow this link, where you’ll find email addresses for the editors that run each Anton newspaper. Find your town, and compose an email to the editor of your town’s local paper.

—Include the name and byline of the article (In this case, “Why Immigration Reform Will Pay Off” and Maryann Sinclair Slutsky)

—Include your name and town. Without that info, your letter won’t be published.

Remember, a letter to the editor doesn’t need to be lengthy (some are as short as 150 words). It just needs to express your point-of-view in a succinct and clear manner.

Hope to hear (read) from you soon-

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Tags : anton, immigration reform

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