Hispanic groups trying to oust elected officials in next week’s election who have pushed for anti-illegal immigrant laws said it is going to require an unprecedented get-out-the-vote effort among Hispanic U.S. citizens.

Elected officials from Maryland and Arlington called on Hispanics to mobilize in Prince William County to oppose incumbent politicians there.

“Everyone here who can vote has to vote,” Maryland Del. Ana Sol Gutierrez said during a news conference in Arlington.

“What we’ve seen here in Prince William, we cannot see for another year,” she said.

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Part of the reason Prince William County unanimously approved its crackdown against illegal immigrants is because the region needs more minority politicians and must support them, Gutierrez said.

“We don’t need power because they are attacking us,” said Pedro Aviles, executive director of the National Capital Immigration Coalition. “We simply need power because we are here.”

Some 16,000 of the more than 64,000 Hispanic residents in Prince William County can vote next week, said Aracely Panameno, who is running a write-in campaign for a board seat.

Saying the county’s board of supervisors had declared a war on its Hispanic community, Panameno said, “We need to lift ourselves up.”

However, the groups’ effort does not take into account that Prince William County’s policy only addresses illegal immigrants, and will not affect legal immigrants or citizens, Board of Supervisors Chairman Corey Stewart said.

“They are trying to distort this whole thing and try to make it look like we’re against Hispanics and that’s disconcerting,” Stewart said.

Anti-illegal immigrant movement leader Greg Letiecq of Help Save Manassas said the groups are trying to paint the Hispanic community as united on the issue, when some support the new measures.

But Mexicanos Sin Fronteras (Mexicans Without Borders) coordinator Ricardo Juarez presented the view of an immigrant community under attack, saying, “Part of our defense is entering government.”

dgenz@dcexaminer.com