Leaders Launch Immigration Education Effort

This week, a group of local business, community, and political leaders gathered to announce the formation of Granite Staters for Common Sense Immigration Reform, according to a press statement. 

The goal of the group will be to highlight the need to reform our broken immigration system and encourage candidates participating in New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation presidential primary to discuss their plans to address this important issue.

“Immigration reform remains a critical issue for our state and country,” said Chris Williams, former President and CEO of the Nashua Chamber of Commerce. “New Hampshire’s economy, in particular the high tech industry is growing rapidly and if we are going to remain competitive we need to implement common sense reforms which attract and retain the best and the brightest to come to our country.”

Pam Tucker, a Republican State Representative from Greenville said, “New Hampshire has a unique opportunity as a first in the nation primary state to engage directly with those seeking our nation’s highest office. Immigration reform is an issue that is not going away and the next President is going to have to tackle this head on by leading the way with a plan to reform our system.”

Granite Staters for Common Sense Immigration Reform will encourage a constructive dialogue between the voters and the candidates focusing on the need to secure our border, improve our H-1B and guest worker programs, and offer practical solutions for the 11.5 million people who are already in our country.

New England College is one of many high profile hosts of Town Hall meetings for the presidential candidates. Dr. Wayne Lesperance is a political science professor at NEC, and is organizing these events throughout the primary. “In future forums, we will ask these Republican presidential candidates to explain their plans for reforming our broken immigration system,” explains Lesperance. “At the same time, we will work with the media to ensure that our candidates’ positions are a matter of public record. We want to make sure the electorate is informed before voting in the primary in early 2016.”

New Hampshire leaders across a variety of sectors form Granite Staters for Common Sense Immigration Reform Steering Committee, including:

• • Jeremy Hitchcock – CEO of Dyn Technologies in Manchester
  • Carlos Gonzales – State Representative from Manchester
  • German Ortiz – Real Estate Agent, community organizer and GOP Activist
  • Chris Williams – Former President & CEO, Nashua Chamber of Commerce
  • Wayne Lesperance – New England College Professor
  • David Boutin – State Senator from Hooksett
  • Bruce Breton – Windham Selectman and Community Activist
  • Richard Hinch – State Representative from Merrimack
  • Mike Hickey – Dean of UNH Manchester
  • Sean O’Kane – Former Commissioner NH Department of Resources and Economic Development (DRED)
  • Nancy Stiles – State Senator from Hampton
  • Pamela Tucker - State Representative from Greenland
  • Olaf Zwickau – President of Air Solutions and Balancing, LLC
  • Ray Boissoneau – CEO and Founder of Electropac
  • Col. Joseph Riley (Ret) - US Army
  • John Tholl - State Representative from Whitefield and former Police Chief
  • Dennis Fields - State Representative from Sanbornton

Bruce Breton, Windham selectman and longtime Republican Party activist, joined the grassroots effort to bring solutions and action to this long-debated national issue. “We have taken too long to address these issues, and this has impacted the safety of our country, strained our economy and caused unnecessary family turmoil,” says Breton. “We need to address the issue now – for our state, for our country, for our future generations – devising a solution that to ensure these problems do not repeat themselves. Our next President must address this head-on.”