On September 19th from 7-9 p.m. citizens of Hagerstown and Washington County (MD)will have a rare opportunity to learn about Refugee Resettlement from some of the major players in the program. 

It’s my opinion that this sort of initiative should have occured long ago and should serve now as a model for other areas of the country.   Immigration is an issue of concern to everyone and the more citizens know about how it works the better off we will be as a country.  As a matter of fact, just today the Center for Immigration Studies released a new report which says that by the year 2060 we will be adding 100,000,000 people to America’s  population as a result of the present level of immigration.   The report suggests that we must decide if we want to diminish our environmental quality of life for our children and grandchildren.   Crowded living conditions, shortages of water and other resources, and less natural open space would likely result from that large an increase in population.

As for the public meeting, come out to the Kepler Theatre at Hagerstown Community College on September 19th, 7-9 p.m. and listen, ask questions and learn.  Yesterday, Opinion page editor, Bob Maginnis, reported on the meeting and listed those who will answer questions from the public:

Jordan (Dir. of Community Action Council) will be the moderator of the Sept. 19 event and said it will include the following presenters:

· Terry Rusch and Barbara Day, of the State Department’s Office of Population, Refugees and Migration.

· Edward Lin, director of the Maryland Office of New Americans and his deputy, Martin Ford.

· Francis Tinsley and Erica Iverson of Church World Services.

· Cline, of the Virginia Council of Churches.

Maginnis continues to urge the public to support bringing more refugees to Hagerstown.  Presumably this is also the position of the Herald-Mail because it has up till now avoided doing any indepth reporting that might have helped the public better understand the Federal Refugee Resettlement Program.