From the AP:

WASHINGTON (AP) — National Democrats on Tuesday urged Republican Party chairman Mel Martinez to stop the independent College Republicans from holding "Catch an Illegal Immigrant" events around the country.

Democratic National Chairman Howard Dean and Ramona Martinez, chair of the Democratic National Committee's Hispanic caucus, sent a letter to the GOP chairman asking him to put a halt to the events.

"These despicable tactics have no place in our public discourse or on our college campuses," the letter said.

The game is a variation of hide and seek, with one player posing as an illegal immigrant and everyone else trying to find the person. The winner usually gets a prize.

Tracy Schmitt, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee, said "we find these activities both egregious and offensive and condemn them wholeheartedly." But she noted the College Republicans are independent of the RNC: "We do not control their activities."

The Ohio College Republicans tried to do this last year for conservative week and were going to offer Chipotle gift cards to the winners, but the wusses at the Ohio GOP freaked out and put a stop to it. But in the end, I blame the OSU CRs, because they shouldn't have let the party know it was going on.

Since two highly visible Republicans, the President of the United States and the RNC Chairman, are absolutely wrong on the immigration issue, the least that young conservative activists should be allowed to do is have fun while bringing attention to a serious issue.

The RNC should lighten up…. Afterall, how do they expect College Republican clubs to encourage students to join if, in 2006, the Republican Party didn't just forget their principles, but they also banned the CRs from having a sense of humor? What is truly "egregious" and "offensive" is how many illegals there are in this country, and the Republican leadership wants to give amnesty these criminals.