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GOP primary Senate hopefuls clash over immigration stance
By Larry Lipman

Palm Beach Post Washington Bureau

Thursday, August 17, 2006

Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Peter Monroe has called on Will McBride, the only candidate in the four-way race with Hispanic heritage, to explain his position on immigration.

Monroe's questions stem from McBride's participation in an April rally in Tampa protesting pending congressional immigration bills.

It's the second time in the past two weeks that McBride's Hispanic heritage and ties to the immigrant community have surfaced in the Senate campaign. Last week, a woman who said she was acting at the suggestion of U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris' campaign staff asked McBride whether he had changed his name from Rodriguez. Harris has denied her campaign was involved in the question.

McBride said the attacks on him "show that I'm the one to beat," in the Sept. 5 primary that also includes LeRoy Collins Jr.

Monroe, a real estate developer from Pinellas County, questioned McBride's position on immigration reform Tuesday night at a meeting of the Hillsborough County Republican Executive Committee.

Monroe released a photograph of McBride leading marchers at the April 10 rally in Tampa protesting tough anti-immigration bills pending in the House and Senate. The photo was originally published in the Spanish-language newspaper La Prensa, which said McBride "headed the parade."

Monroe said McBride was trying to appear sympathetic to immigrants while espousing a tough stance against illegal immigration. Monroe also ridiculed McBride's suggestion that illegal immigrants have been the victims of "employment entrapment" by lax border controls that encourage foreign workers to come to the United States.

Monroe supports a fence along the Mexican border and a portion of the Canadian border and the deportation of illegal immigrants.

McBride said he was not an organizer or leader of the march, although the photo shows him in front of a group of marchers helping to hold a banner for the group Immigrants United for Freedom.

Lurvina Lizardo of Tampa, president of Honduran Unity and a member of Immigrants United for Freedom, said she invited McBride to participate in the march and speak to the crowd and news media.

McBride, an Orange County attorney whose paternal grandmother was Mexican and whose maternal grandmother was Dominican, said he participated in the rally because his Mexican-born father is a minister of a predominantly Hispanic church.

Asked about some of Monroe's immigration questions, McBride said he supports deporting illegal immigrants if they have had a "due process" hearing to determine their status. He noted that some immigrants — such as those from Cuba and Venezuela — may enter the country illegally but are allowed to remain. He said he opposes the current "catch and release" policy in which illegal immigrants are asked to return for a hearing at a future date.

"If someone can convince me that a 700-mile wall would be effective and cost-effective, I'd support it," McBride said.

McBride also said he would support legislation to force illegal immigrants to return to a foreign port or their country of origin for a brief time before they could apply for legal immigration, but he said current waits of six years or more discourage illegal immigrants from voluntarily returning.

Monroe said his questions were not aimed at McBride's Hispanic heritage and said he thought the question by a Harris supporter about whether McBride changed his name was "reprehensible."

But Monroe said he considers McBride's oft-repeated comment that he can campaign equally well in English and in Spanish "equally reprehensible. He is saying, 'I speak Spanish, therefore I control the Hispanic vote.' "

Harris, a two-term congresswoman from Longboat Key, and Collins, a retired two-star Navy admiral from Tampa, also have called for tougher immigration enforcement.

Harris voted for the House immigration bill last December, but said she opposes provisions in the bill that would make it a felony to be an illegal immigrant or to provide assistance to an illegal immigrant. Harris has said the United States needs a robust guest worker program to provide workers to such industries as agriculture, tourism and construction, but she said the U.S. should use high-tech identification procedures to ensure that workers have legal status.

Collins has also called for the use of high-tech surveillance techniques to stem illegal immigration. He has said illegal immigrants must comply with existing laws to obtain work credentials or qualify for citizenship. He said those who remain here illegally should be deported.