Immigration debate attends Fiesta, too

RALEIGH -- A short woman in a silky purple dress stopped for a moment Saturday amid the sounds of a peppy Cuban band and the smells of warm empanadas at the State Fairgrounds.

She signed her name to a cloth work glove. It then hung from a clothesline in a display of dozens of signed gloves at La Fiesta del Pueblo, one of the state's largest festivals of Latin cultures.

Soon, organizers said, the glove will be sent to the marble halls of Congress as a statement in support of immigrants who are contributing to the U.S. economy. It's also a rebuttal to other groups who are sending bricks to Washington and urging construction of a wall between the U.S. and Mexico.

"This is for the common cause," said the woman, Maria del Carmen, 62, who works for a filter company in Raleigh. "There needs to be reform in all of the immigration rules and policies, but not to be unfavorable to those already established here."

The touchy subject of immigration reform -- a hot-button issue in many fall political races -- was on the minds of plenty of festival-goers Saturday.

The event has become a chance for politicians to court the growing Hispanic vote in North Carolina, though the number of registered Hispanics is at most about 2 percent, according to state elections data.

A U.S. congressman, Rep. David Price, swept through the crowd, as did a state senator, Democrat Janet Cowell of Raleigh, and a state House member, Democrat Deborah Ross of Raleigh.

At least five more elected officials are due to appear today as the festival wraps up.

A group of students from UNC-Chapel Hill manned a booth and sought to register voters. Many people were turned away because they are not legal citizens or are not yet 18.

"We have to build up the numbers," said Laura Lopez, 19, who came to Raleigh from Mexico in 1999 and was encouraging people to register. "When we advocate for something, the politicians will just throw it back at us -- that we don't vote. We need more Hispanic voters."

Many at the festival filled out postcards to Congress that say immigrants are "America's families, workers and neighbors." The immigration debate should not divide Americans, the card says.

In brief remarks at an opening ceremony, Price, a Democrat from Chapel Hill, boasted that he hasn't missed any of the 13 festivals sponsored by El Pueblo, an advocacy organization for Latinos.

But applause was loudest when Price said he supports a "rational and balanced" immigration policy in the U.S.

Price said part of such a policy would be allowing illegal immigrants who are here now and contributing to society to have a path toward citizenship.

Price's opponent, Republican Steve Acuff, is not scheduled to attend.

All area elected officials and candidates were invited to appear, organizers said. Most who accepted are Democrats, though Sen. Neal Hunt, a Raleigh Republican, is expected at the festival today.

"I represent all of the people in my district," Hunt said in an interview, "and this is a chance to be with them. I do believe that we need to take steps to make it less attractive for immigrants to come to North Carolina. We are too attractive ... in terms of allowing welfare and food stamps and Medicare and that kind of thing."

Republicans and Democrats set up booths at the festival and handed out information about their candidates and positions. It is unclear how the issue might play out in statewide races, volunteers said.

But the issue is getting attention in many races. For example, U.S. Rep. Charles Taylor, a Republican and incumbent in the 11th House District, held a town hall meeting Saturday focused on immigration. His opponent, Democrat Heath Shuler, has been talking up the issue as well.

Closer to Raleigh, U.S. Rep. Brad Miller, a Raleigh Democrat and incumbent in the 13th District, is scheduled to be at the festival today and has advocated building a border wall, as well as establishing a way for undocumented workers already here to become citizens.

His opponent, Republican Vernon Robinson, is not scheduled to appear at the festival.

But in a flier that Republican volunteers displayed at the festival Saturday, Robinson prominently says he opposes "illegal aliens" and wants to stop them from "taking our jobs and sponging off the American taxpayer.

"Vernon Robinson will secure our borders against the alien invasion and make English the National Language!" it says.