Illegal Immigration at the Forefront

"They say [the trend] doesn't include legal immigrants, but that is the mask they like to put on it. Of course it does. This whole sentiment affects how people view immigrants."

Kilgore has said that public funding to support illegal immigrants undermines the rule of law and denigrates residents who immigrated to the country legally.

Virginia is struggling with cultural changes brought on by a rise in legal and illegal immigration over the past decade.

The state is home to more than 200,000 illegal immigrants, up 50,000 from 1996, according to a study for the Pew Hispanic Center. The number of Virginians born outside the United States has grown from 311,809 in 1990 to 570,279 in 2000, according to the census.

A Washington Post poll taken Sept. 6 through Sept.9 showed that in Virginia, 33 percent of registered voters think "the growing number of immigrants" has been bad for their communities, compared with 21 percent who believe it is good.

"Virginia has definitely emerged as a new gateway state, and it looks like the politics of immigration there are starting to resemble what we've seen in California or Arizona," said Michael Fix of the Migration Policy Institute, a nonprofit think tank in Washington that tracks immigration law. "The big political and legal question that is taking shape right now is, where will we draw the lines on this issue?

"What will properly be state and local responsibility, and what will be federal responsibility?"

Kaine and Kilgore support state sanctions against employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants. Kaine said he also supports such "common sense" fixes as the driver's license restrictions approved by the legislature.

"Kilgore could use this issue to help mobilize conservatives, but there's a potential cost if he overplays his hand," said Mark J. Rozell, director of the School of Public Policy at George Mason University. "He could potentially alienate other voters. . . . Kaine is trying to find an acceptable middle and to offend as few people as possible."

Kaine has appealed to immigrants with bilingual town hall meetings and interviews on Spanish-language radio and television stations. He learned Spanish while working as a Catholic missionary in Honduras when he was a law student.

Asked about his priorities for immigrant communities, Kaine mentions such general goals as funding more pre-kindergarten programs and providing health insurance for small businesses.

Kilgore said one of his top priorities would be to expand powers for state police to enforce immigration laws by signing a memorandum of understanding with the Department of Homeland Security that would permit police to detain noncitizens picked up for violent offenses. Florida and Alabama have similar agreements, Fix said.

During his tenure as Virginia's attorney general, Kilgore supported a proposal to deny in-state tuition to illegal immigrants. Recently, he supported a law, set to take effect in January, requiring state and local governments to check the immigration status of adults applying for most public benefits.

"There is not a day that goes by when I'm not asked about this issue. . . . It's a defining issue in the race as we go into the final days," Kilgore said.