However, Cary resident Ron Woodard, who heads the nonprofit group NC Listen, says when it comes to the immigration issue, those average people are needed as volunteers to combat paid lobbyists and special-interest groups.

That's why he recently put together an immigration training session recently at the Hampton Inn in Cary where more than 30 citizen activists, many of whom have never dealt with politicians, gathered to learn how to effectively get their points across and to get facts in the hands of decision makers.

Participants came from as far as west as Hendersonville and as far east as Atlantic Beach.

Government statistics estimate that more than 400,000 illegal immigrants reside in the state. A study released in January by the Federation of American Immigration Reform shows a net cost of illegal immigration to North Carolinians of more than $1 billion a year.

FAIR representative Joyce Mucci provided tips on communicating with legislators. Surveys consistently show that more than 80 percent of the American public wants immigration laws enforced and the border secured from illegal entry.

"The truth is the truth is the truth," Mucci said. "But a lot of times people don't do anything unless their ox is gored."

Attendees brought up issues of public safety, citing an illegal immigrant wanted for murder in Cary, as well as an illegal immigrant arrested for an automobile accident that left someone in critical condition at the Jaycee Burn Center.

Attendees also expressed concern about the economic well being of American citizens. For example, the new Renaissance Hotel in Raleigh had 3,000 people apply for 100 jobs, Woodard said, quoting a News & Observer article.

With North Carolina's unemployment at nearly 9 percent, Woodard said he is especially concerned with illegal immigrants holding jobs that Americans can do. "After recent immigration raids at a meat processing plant in North Carolina, legal American workers, many of whom were poor minority workers, immediately took those jobs," Woodard said.

NC Listen is asking members of the federal and state legislatures to require that companies use the federal government's own E-Verify system to check the legal status of employees.

The N.C. General Assembly has approved $700 million in construction projects with the idea of creating 26,000 jobs. Woodard's group wants the legislature to pass E-Verify legislation to ensure that those jobs will go to legal residents.

For more, go to nclisten.com.