"America is the land of opportunity and we are all brothers and sisters," said independent candidate Todd Giroux, a Bristol contractor, who made his first debate appearance and pushed his support for "work-first status, so we can document and support folks that have families here."

At the other end of the spectrum was Republican candidate John Robitaille, who helped drive Governor Carcieri's immigration policy as a former top aide.

"I think people that are here illegally diminish the citizenship status of those who stood in line and did it right," he said, endorsing "components" of the Arizona law.

Fellow Republican Victor G. Moffitt drew murmurs from the diverse crowd when he said, "I think everybody in this room is legally here... Every state has the right to support its citizens and its jobs for the legal people who are here."

Independent candidate Lincoln D. Chafee, a former Republican U.S. senator, produced the largest applause of the night after pledging to repeal Carcieri's executive order, veto "any Arizona-type law," and fight E-Verify.

"I would not participate in E-Verify. Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Mississippi, Rhode Island, and South Carolina -- only six states participate. If it's so great, is that the kind of company we want? I don't think so."

Moderate Party candidate Kenneth J. Block had a more nuanced answer. He endorsed E-Verify as a way of cracking down on "unscrupulous employers who take advantage of people who work here illegally."

But he called the Arizona law, which gives the police broad power to detain anyone suspected of being in the country illegally, "asinine." "I believe it's xenophobic," he said, suggesting its only benefit may be pushing the federal government into action.

But Block said there should be limits on giving undocumented immigrants in-state tuition for Rhode Island colleges and universities. "I don't think we can afford to educate all the world's children right now," he said.

Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch, a Democrat, blasted the governor's executive order: "This governor has a knack for putting out some cold-hearted, poorly calculated, perhaps unintentionally hurtful documents. That is one of them. I would get rid of that on Day 1."

He said the Arizona law was "hurtful," "insulting," and may be unconstitutional.

Both Lynch and his Democratic opponent, General Treasurer Frank T. Caprio, support in-state tuition for undocumented students. Caprio also opposes the Arizona law.

He faulted the federal government for failing to approve comprehensive immigration reform.

"What's going on in our country right now is a shame that we do not have a path to citizenship," he said, noting that his wife, a Central Falls language teacher, would be the first First Lady to speak fluent Spanish.

But it was Caprio's repeated jabs at Chafee -- and Chafee's pointed retorts -- that sometimes overshadowed the immigration discussion. The two are running neck and neck in recent polling.

Caprio opened the door by bashing Chafee's budget-balancing plan to broaden the state's sales tax to apply to things like groceries and prescription drugs.

"Senator Chafee, the way to solve the problems of this state is not by taxing our citizens more," Caprio said.

Chafee swiped back without naming Caprio, a former state lawmaker, saying that "some of the candidates up here" helped create looming state budget deficits while serving in the legislature.

The feud turned nastier as the night went on: "When you were in Washington, you had no problem leaving us $400 billion deficits, year in and year out," Caprio charged.

Chafee moved into defense mode: "I voted against the tax cut. I voted against the war in Iraq. I voted against the $800-billion prescription benefit... I have a strong record of being a deficit hawk."

And responding later in the debate to Block's suggestion that the front-runners were "slinging mud," Chafee had this to say: "It's not mudslinging. It's a debate. We have different ideas over how to move our state forward. It's not good enough just to have flowery heartwarming words about small businesses, without a real plan to help them."

Meanwhile, De Los Santos suggested that Latinos will become a growing political force.

Indeed, there are 43,000 eligible Hispanic voters in Rhode Island, according to a 2008 study by the Pew Hispanic Center. Overall, more than 120,000 residents -- or 11.5 percent of the total population -- are Hispanic.

"We may be talking about the future of the state," she said.

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