Penn State students, faculty and community members on both sides of the immigration debate squared off yesterday, sharing their stories and expressing their opinions as part of Penn State College Republicans' controversial Illegal Immigration Awareness Day.

Members of the College Republicans and Latino Caucus, who worked together to organize the event, answered questions and distributed immigration fact sheets for about six hours yesterday in the HUB-Robeson Center.

College Republicans Chairman Seth Bender estimated that the group distributed more than 2,000 fact sheets throughout the day.

"I thought it was great," Bender said. "We definitely created some dialogue, and that's what we wanted --- people defending their positions and presenting the facts."

College Republicans originally planned to hold a "Catch an Illegal Immigrant Game," but the Latino and Black caucuses responded angrily to the idea. After discussions between the College Republicans and Latino Caucus, the game was eliminated, and more emphasis was placed on education.

Members of True Voices -- an unofficial student group opposed to the event -- stood just feet away distributing their own fact sheets about immigration while wearing white T-shirts that said "Immigrant Nation" to distinguish themselves from event planners, who wore orange shirts that said "Got facts?"

"I only had one person come up to me and ask me about the T-shirt," True Voices member Natascha Kruger said. Sara Armengot, another True Voices member, added that few students approached her throughout the day.

As Jesse Pinero (junior-landscape contracting) stood in between the two groups reading the information each had distributed, he said he did not understand the purpose of Illegal Immigration Awareness Day.

"I'm really not certain why [College Republicans] are holding this event," he said. "Do they want people to come out and bash illegal immigration, or is it really to make people more aware of the facts?"

Nearly 100 people, including about 10 True Voices members, attended a public forum last night to discuss immigration and respond to the day's events.

Senior lecturer in sociology Sam Richards began the evening by commending the College Republicans and Latino Caucus for working together to hold Illegal Immigration Awareness Day over a debate that is as "fascinating" as it is complex.

"Throughout the forum, keep in mind that you don't have the correct numbers and information, because they don't exist," he said. "It is really hard to get to the truth. Is illegal immigration a problem? Absolutely. Is there a solution? Not in a million years."

Audience members directed questions about immigration to College Republican and Latino Caucus members, who took turns responding.

One student asked about the role race played in the illegal immigration debate.

"Although immigration is not a race-based question, it would be extremely ignorant to ignore the fact that about 57 percent of illegal immigrants come from Mexico alone," Joanna Moore, Latino Caucus' community service chair, said. "To say that it's not race-based when about 81 percent come from Latin American countries --- it can't be done."

College Republicans Vice Chairman Brandon Means agreed that race is a factor but said labeling it as a race-based issue is a "stereotypical viewpoint."

"The point is not to question the race of the immigrants, but to question their motives," Means said. "We need to question how they're getting here and what they're doing while they're here."

Latino Caucus President Liza Vega said that in 1990, when she was 6 years old, her family immigrated to Los Angeles from Guatemala. In 1997, she was granted legal citizenship.

"I am not here to debate over illegal immigration but to remind you ... that illegal immigration is not about politics," she said. "Let's remember that we are talking about human beings -- you and I -- and not aliens."

Moore said it is important to pay attention to the people immigration policy affects instead of concentrating on the statistics.

"Immigration, obviously, is the foundation of the United States. It can't be denied," she said. "It is changing the face of our country, and it is allowing us to become a better country -- to have these forums at the university that we never would have had 10 years ago."