OCEANSIDE -- Should there be an amnesty program, what is the size of the illegal immigrant population, and what are its effects on the country? Those were some of the questions debated Thursday night at a dinner sponsored by the Republican Club of North County.

To debate the topic, the club invited Raoul Lowery-Contreras, a newspaper columnist, and Jim Gilchrist, founder of the Minuteman Project, a group of anti-illegal immigrant activists. Gilchrist was unable to attend, but the group's executive director, Stephen Eichler, took his place.

Eichler said the millions of illegal immigrants in the country have stressed its resources by overcrowding roads, hospital emergency rooms and schools. Many in the audience applauded Eichler numerous times throughout the 90-minute debate.

On the other hand, Contreras said illegal immigrants pay about $7 billion each year into the nation's Social Security system, help produce cheaper crops and services, and should be allowed to work legally in the country if they return home and are sponsored by an employer.

"The very fact that the chicken that you ate here tonight was probably processed by an illegal alien is an important and positive impact," Contreras said. "We have positives and negatives. There is a drain on some public expenditures, but not what you think."

Eichler said the negative effects of illegal immigration far outweigh any potential positives.

"The price that everyone is really paying is the price that we pay when we get on our freeways and can't move but an inch every few minutes," he said. "I was glad to enjoy the day without illegal immigrants."

Illegal immigration has been a hotly debated issue in North County for years, but interest has heightened during recent political campaigns that have taken up the cause of more restrictive immigration enforcement efforts.

Recently Marie Waldron, an Escondido councilwoman running for the 74th State Assembly seat, received the endorsement of the San Diego Minutemen, an offshoot group of the Minutemen Project. She failed in her bid for the GOP nomination to the race. Her opponent, Republican Martin Garrick, who won the nomination, is also staunchly anti-illegal immigrant.

At Tuesday's debate, Eichler said the problems associated with illegal immigration are not restricted to any particular group, but include all who are in the country illegally. However, he criticized the predominantly Latino-led recent marches, saying that participants "thumbed their nose at the red, white and blue."

Eichler also decried the problem of "anchor babies," a pejorative term used to describe children born to illegal immigrant parents. He said those babies give their parents a "free pass" to collect benefits in the country.

Contreras said the term was offensive and that citizenship was a constitutional right awarded to all persons born in the country without qualifications.

"The term 'anchor baby' is a despicable term created by people who have no clue," Contreras said. "The 14th Amendment says, 'all persons born or naturalized in the United States of America.' That's not an interpretation …. That's not a misinterpretation. That's the 14th Amendment."

Contact staff writer Edward Sifuentes at (760) 740-3511 or esifuentes@nctimes.com.