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Runoff candidates avoid immigration
Updated 12/7/2006 9:17 PM ET
By Alan Gomez, USA TODAY
EAGLE PASS, TEXAS — The border between Texas and Mexico is as fluid as the river that separates them.
Signs hanging outside American storefronts read "Pesos welcome." Parking lots in U.S. schools are filled with Mexican license plates. Pregnant mothers from Mexico go to U.S. hospitals to give birth while American residents cross the border for cheaper prescription drugs and doctor visits.

"I'd say 90% of our customers are Mexican," said Armando Jose Zertuche in a men's fashion store on the U.S. side of the border.

One would expect that a special election being held Tuesday for a congressional seat between Republican Rep. Henry Bonilla and Democratic challenger Ciro Rodriguez would be rife with debate on the issue of illegal immigration.

The GOP has tended to favor strong enforcement of current laws to catch illegal immigrants, and a fence to keep them out. Democrats, who could strengthen their hold on the House with a Rodriguez win, have mostly opposed the fence and favored a measure that would allow the millions of illegals here to remain and become citizens.

Yet the two candidates campaigning to represent Texas' 23rd District have made it a point to avoid any discussion of immigration.

Neither of their campaign websites mentions the issue or the nearly 700 miles of fencing approved by Congress. At rallies in San Antonio and along the border recently, the candidates spoke of health care, education and taxes, but not of immigration.

Bonilla and Rodriguez each cite the importance of other issues and the diversity of the district — the largest in Texas at more than 400 miles wide and 300 miles north to south — when asked why they have avoided the debate.

The U.S. Border Patrol estimates that roughly a quarter of the Mexicans they apprehend entering the country illegally are in Texas.

"How can you resolve a problem if there's no dialogue," said Juan Maldonado of the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project. "They treat it like racism. You just can't talk about it."

So why is the topic being ignored?

"They're scared of it," said Rosie Carrillo, a Del Rio resident.

Or, as University of Texas government professor Sean Theriault put it, "It cuts too hard both ways.

"For as many people in the district that would be pleased with a hard line for immigration, you're going to rally as many people to vote against you, (and vice versa)," he said. "It strikes at the heart of so many people that it would be hard to garner political traction on either side of the issue."

The topic becomes touchier as the race tightens.

Bonilla has represented the district for 14 years, but his hold has been weakened by the national tide against Republicans and a state Supreme Court decision to redraw the district.

The high court ruled that the Republican-controlled state Legislature unfairly repressed the Latino vote when it redrew the 23rd District, so it added heavily Hispanic areas.

Bonilla got more than 70% of the vote in 2004 and outraised his six opponents by a 2-to-1 margin this year. But because of the changing landscape, he only got 48% of the vote in November.

That prompted the Dec. 12 runoff with Rodriguez, who is now getting help from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. The DCCC sent down campaign staffers and purchased a TV ad that started airing this week.

Both candidates are of Mexican descent but Bonilla is the only Mexican-American Republican in Congress. He calls himself a business-friendly, fiscally conservative Republican and shudders at what he calls "pseudo-intellectuals" who try to stereotype him.

"They always think that the color of your skin should dictate what your political philosophy is," Bonilla said. "Nothing can be more insulting."

Rodriguez is a former four-term congressman who paints Bonilla in the "stay the course" brush strokes that worked for other Democrats nationwide.

Of their many differences, immigration is one of the most clear.

Bonilla voted for the border fence and for the House bill that would have made it a felony to be an illegal alien. Rodriguez is strongly against both measures.

Some here say that despite the many illegal immigrants coming, the issue is not a big deal here as it is in the north.

"When (illegals) come across, there are eyes on them all over the place. They're trying to get as far away from the border as they can," said Jerry McNeese, 74, who is retired from an El Paso oil field. "They can get lost in places like Chicago … places up north."

But "up north" could be as close as San Antonio, where a majority of the district's population lives. Many in that area believe a wall may be the only way to stop the wave of illegal immigration.

"It's making a mockery out of our nation," said Bonilla supporter Thomas Marburger, a retired tax attorney. "It's putting tremendous pressure on our social services, hospitals are shutting down, and our taxes are going up because we can't handle that influx."

People along the border agree that the system must be fixed, but they laugh at the idea of a fence.

"If you build a 10-foot wall, they're just going to build an 11-foot ladder," said Democratic state Sen. Carlos Uresti, whose district overlaps most of the congressional district.

Uresti questions his fellow Democrats' decision to avoid the debate.

"It should be an issue," he said.