In light of the ongoing controversy regarding illegal immigration in the United States, several N.C. State offices and organizations are working together to host a “Dialogue on Diversity.”

The main speakers presenting the opposite sides of the issue at the event are Dr. Marisol McGee, an adjunct lecturer on social work, and John Hood, president of the John Locke Foundation, an organization that focuses on policy issues.

Andrew Behnke, assistant professor and human development specialist, will moderate the discussion.

Although the event has been advertised in flyers as a debate, it is designed to be more of an intellectual discussion, according to Behnke.

“This is not a debate. We are not here to lecture one another, or convince each other of a particular viewpoint,” Behnke said. “Instead, I hope we can create a collaborative and open space for discussion about these topics for both sides of the aisle to find some common ground. We really want it to be a constructive opportunity.”

An open space is exactly what students like Juana Hernandez say they are hoping will come from this discussion.

Hernandez, a junior in criminology, said she worked with Behnke on part of the organization of this forum. Hernandez said she hopes people will see this event as an opportunity to learn the truth about immigration in the United States, as it is a topic she believes is often misrepresented.

“As a previously undocumented student, I think it is very important for people to gain knowledge about what is going on instead of simply thinking what they want to think,” Hernandez said. “Honestly, I know there are pros and cons to immigration, but there are so many families who aren’t hurting anyone. They are just like everyone else. They just want to make a better future for their families.”

Hernandez said she hopes students who attend will learn to be more open-minded about immigration and less inclined to discriminate based on heritage.

Less discrimination is exactly what cousins Magdalena Gaspar, a freshman in math education, and Charlie Miguel, a freshman in aerospace engineering and philosophy major say they would like to see.

Miguel and Gaspar said their family left a small village in Guatemala over 25 years ago, and both are U.S. citizens. They said while they aren’t openly discriminated against, the issue is there.

“Most of the people I hang out with are pretty smart and don’t discriminate on age, race, or gender. We are all equal.  I’m lucky because I have seen discrimination based on where we are from,” said Miguel.

Gaspar said although her family has gone through the naturalization process and she is a U.S. native, people are often quick to assume she is an illegal immigrant because she is Hispanic.

“There are people who assume just because you are Hispanic or from somewhere else, that you’re illegal,” said Gaspar. “I just think the community exaggerates immigration as a problem. Yeah they take many of the jobs, but imagine if we didn’t have immigrants. Who would be doing the jobs then? Many people from other countries work in our library, dining halls, janitorial staff and so on.”

Miguel said illegal immigration is a serious problem because the United States cannot handle such an annual influx in population.

“In my opinion it is a problem. It’s overpopulating this country and we can’t support that many people,” said Miguel. “When people immigrate here illegally they often fall into poverty. More and more people these days are dying from poverty-related issues, and we don’t need any more people contributing to that number.”

While they hold differing views on the immigration issue, both said they think people need to learn the facts before they form an opinion, something Behnke said is a major goal of the forum.

“Serving Latino family’s is my passion, my life’s work. People have a tendency to only look ‘their’ issues and disregard others,” said Behnke. “But we have some quality speakers, so I hope we have a high attendance this year.”