In Fifth District, Ogonowski is unrelenting on immigration

In his quest to pull off an upset victory over Democrat Niki Tsongas in the race for the Fifth Congressional District, Republican Jim Ogonowski has kept an unrelenting focus on a big, divisive issue: immigration.

Tsongas has kept her focus on ending the Iraq war, but Ogonowski has called illegal immigration the number one subject on the mind of the district's voters. It is the first point he hits in speeches about being an outsider who wants to fix a "broken Congress," and he recently held a three-day, 15-town "No Amnesty" tour to highlight his stance.

"I believe that we need immigration reform, but immigration reform does not include amnesty," Ogonowski said in a recent debate.

Tsongas supporters say Ogonowski is using immigration as a distraction from the unpopular Iraq war, which hurt Republicans running for Congress in 2006. Some voters and observers question whether the immigration issue resonates the way that Ogonowski says it does or wonder if it will backfire in the Merrimack Valley, home to many immigrants.

"I can't imagine that's helping him in places like Haverhill, Lawrence, and Lowell that have a very visible immigrant and refugee population," said Jeffrey Gerson, associate professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell.

Of the roughly 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States, the Pew Hispanic Center has estimated that 150,000 to 250,000 live in Massachusetts. There are no estimates for how many live in the Fifth District, but Lowell and Lawrence are two of the state's immigration hubs. According to the US Census, about 38 percent of Lowell residents and 74 percent of Lawrence residents speak a language other than English at home.

Ogonowski, a Dracut hay farmer and Air Force veteran, says that illegal immigrants strain schools and hospitals and pose a security threat. He has called for a "technological fence, a physical fence, and a manpower fence" to keep illegal immigrants from streaming into the United States. He supports deporting unauthorized immigrants. His campaign likens his approach to fixing a basement flooded by the Merrimack River: plug the leaks, then bail it out.

The issue also lets Ogonowski hit his regular theme in a race in which he has tried to paint Tsongas, widow of former senator Paul Tsongas, as a Washington insider. Neither candidate has held elected office.

"Congress is broken and not working for the American people," Ogonowski said in a debate last week. The candidates will debate again tomorrow and next Tuesday before the Oct. 16 election. "Not once but twice this past spring our Congress tried to pass immigration reform that included amnesty for illegal immigrants."

Tsongas also says the immigration system needs reform, but she differs from Ogonowski in her approach. She is calling for increased border security and labor-law enforcement, but also a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants. They could earn citizenship after paying back taxes and learning English, among other requirements, but they would have to get in line behind those who entered legally, Tsongas said.

"We have 12 million people here, and I have yet to hear my Republican opponent suggest how do we deal with that," she said during a debate.

Ogonowski says anyone who broke the law by entering the country illegally should have to go home and start over. He has accused Congress of trying to extend benefits to illegal immigrants at the expense of taxpayers and existing programs.

Ogonowski has clearly motivated some voters with the issue.

"We can't give amnesty; that sends the wrong message," said Lisa Panagopoulos, 45, an Ogonowski supporter from Dracut who described herself as a Democrat who has grown more conservative.

"For me, that's the number one thing. And it's heading that way with someone like Tsongas who is trying to help that cause. No, thank you."

Panagopoulos's friend, Alexia Nacopoulos, an independent, said that she is "all for immigration, legal immigration."

She said she is worried about illegal immigrants draining taxpayer-funded resources and posing public-safety threats.

"They're just putting more weight on the system that we're supporting," said Nacopoulos, 40, of Westford.

But Isabel Melendez, a Lawrence community activist and radio host who has helped register Latino voters, said criticism of any immigrants, undocumented or documented, causes people in the community to bristle.

She believes that Ogonowski's platform will backfire.

"It's not helping, let me tell you," said Melendez, adding that the local economy relies on low-paid immigrant labor.

"For those who have worked hard, they have given, they have been helping," she said. "It's hard to punish innocent people and hard-working people."

Ali Noorani, executive director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, said several Republican state legislative candidates in 2004 tried similar hard-line approaches in Massachusetts but did not motivate voters.

"It's just fear-mongering at its worst, and to this point it has failed," said Noorani, whose agency is nonpartisan.

In the southern part of the Fifth District, which stretches through 29 communities from Haverhill to Berlin, several said that immigration does not weigh as heavily as the war or healthcare.

"I haven't heard it mentioned as an issue out there, truthfully," said Timothy Bragan, town administrator in Harvard.

The Oct. 16 ballot also includes Kevin Thompson of the Constitution Party and independent candidates Patrick Murphy, a bricklayer from Lowell, and Kurt Hayes, a Boxborough businessman.

Murphy supports earned citizenship, along with border control and an effort to raise the global standard of living to reduce the impetus for immigration.

Thompson and Hayes have views similar to Ogonowski's on immigration.