Republicans Turn to Immigration to Keep Control of Congress
By SEAN MUSSENDEN
Media General News Service
Monday, August 14, 2006



ASHEVILLE, NC - Even in places far from the border where few immigrants live, Republicans are turning illegal immigration into a key campaign issue to excite their conservative base and appeal to low-income native-born workers.

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The debate is resonating in congressional districts like western North Carolina's 11th, where Rep. Charles Taylor is fighting to keep his seat and Republican control of the U.S. House.

Taylor ran a radio ad this summer accusing his challenger, Democrat Heath Shuler, of wanting to weaken border security. It also tied Shuler to national Democrats who, according to the ad, wanted to let illegal immigrants vote.

"Most of the Democrats...want to get them in, make them citizens so they can vote, or wink at them if they vote illegally. They will become a dedicated voting block in gratitude for being provided mass amnesty," Taylor said in an interview.

Shuler, a former NFL quarterback, called both accusations patently false.

"Our stance is quite simple, protect our borders and we oppose amnesty," he said in an interview. Republicans, he said, are "just trying to find issues, and obviously this is an important issue, but this is an issue that should have been taken care of many years ago and not months before the election."

In Buncombe County, which surrounds Asheville, the percentage of Hispanics, largely immigrants, in the population grew from 2.8 percent to 3.6 percent between 2000 and 2004.

hat's below state (6 percent) and national (14 percent) proportions, according to census data.

Jerry Tudela said when he came to Asheville 15 years ago he was one of the first Latinos.

"It was strange for me and my wife. When we spoke Spanish in places like the supermarket, people used to turn around and check us out," said Tudela, who now works for Catholic Social Services, helping Hispanics with legal problems.

Mexican restaurants and Latino grocery stores now dot the city's west side, and Hispanic-owned food trucks serve authentic pork and tongue tacos that rival the city's barbecue shacks.

Fernanda Aguilar, 19, came here with her brother and sister almost four years ago from Guatemala. She says that she earns far more selling tacos here than she could earn at home.

She says most non-Hispanic locals are friendly, but some in more rural areas west of town "laugh at us because they think we're unimportant," she said in Spanish.

North Carolina State Sen. John Snow, a Democrat who represents those rural areas, says immigration policy is important for many of his constituents.

"A lot of my people are doing work immigrants are doing. They're worried about losing their jobs," he said.

John Keeley, of the Center for Immigration Studies, a think-tank that supports restrictive immigration policies, said that intense national debate over the issue this year made it relevant even in places with few immigrants.

"That's reflective of how nationalized the debate has become. Even in a district with a low immigrant population, it's become important to know how your representative sees the issue," he said.

Sean Mussenden, a national correspondent in Media General's Washington Bureau can be reached at 202-662-7668 or smussenden@mediageneral.com.

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