Democrats are looking to turn a weekend event in Iowa being hosted by immigration lightning rod Steve King into a spectacle that sets the GOP further back with Latinos ahead of the 2016 campaign.

Some of the top Republican contenders for the White House will spend Saturday paying homage to King, an Iowa congressman who just this week attacked Michelle Obama for bringing a “deportable” to the State of the Union address.

Outside the event in Des Moines, Democrats will do their best to tether the 2016 hopefuls to King and his divisive views on immigration. At least 10 candidates who are openly considering a bid for the GOP nomination — from Chris Christie and Ted Cruz to Scott Walker and Mike Huckabee — are descending on Des Moines for a daylong conference put on by the congressman and Citizens United.

Across the street, Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz is planning a press conference to call on Republicans to condemn King’s statements on immigration. King has compared undocumented immigrants to dogs and said many have developed “cantaloupe”-sized calves as drug mules.

American Bridge 21st Century, the liberal group that monitors all public utterances of the 2016 candidates, will swarm the event with trackers. Three years ago, a videographer for the group captured King on video saying that screening immigrants allowed into the United States is like the process of breeding dogs.

“The 2016 hopefuls tripping over themselves to kiss his ring this weekend had best remember that the tea party base aren’t the only people watching — and that voters will judge them by the company they keep,” said American Bridge Communications Director Ben Ray.

The event comes as the GOP looks to improve its standing with Latinos ahead of the 2016 campaign and as congressional Republicans attempt to block President Barack Obama’s executive action shielding 5 million undocumented immigrants from deportation. Two dozen prominent Republicans are scheduled to address a full-house crowd of 1,250 activists at Hoyt Sherman Place in Des Moines. About 1,000 people are on a waiting list to get in, and 150 journalists have been credentialed.

Democrats are planning an aggressive effort to draw out Republican candidates on an issue that badly damaged Mitt Romney in 2012. Christie, the New Jersey governor, has steadfastly avoided taking detailed stances on immigration before he is officially running, knowing the minefield it has been. Others, like Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush, have upset activists by pushing for comprehensive reform. Neither will attend the Iowa event.

Democrats know there’s been an immediate backlash to Obama’s immigration order but believe that the people most passionate about the issue are those most directly affected, or so-called DREAMers. They want to get Republicans on the record now saying things that will come back to haunt them in the fall of 2016 with Hispanic voters in general election battlegrounds like Nevada and Florida, both of which have fast-growing minority populations.

DNC Communications Director Mo Elleithee noted that none of the potential Republican candidates, including Bush, have publicly condemned King’s “deportable” tweet on Tuesday.

“You cannot pretend that you are an inclusive party if you are going to go hug and praise a guy whose sole purpose is to find ways to exclude, to divide and to insult people,” Elleithee said, adding sarcastically: “This is clearly a brilliant campaign strategy for Republicans. I encourage them to keep doing it.”

Immigration activists will also be on hand looking to create “confrontations,” as one organizer put it.

Erika Andiola, co-director of DRM Action Coalition, confronted King at another event he attended with Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) in August. She told King that she would have to leave the United States if he had his way. Paul got up after taking a bite of his hamburger and walked away. King debated her for the next seven minutes. The video on YouTube has nearly 1 million views.

“We’re going to continue to do that,” Andiola said Thursday. “If the GOP wants to win in 2016, they need to make sure they stay as much away from Steve King as possible.”

Several immigration activists from Iowa had a conference call on Thursday to discuss their plans for the weekend, which the Des Moines Register this week described as “the kickoff to Iowa’s first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses,” even though they do not take place until Feb. 1, 2016.

Craig Robinson, who runs TheIowaRepublican.com and was formerly the state GOP’s political director, said he’s not surprised Democrats are being so aggressive.

“Bracketing the event that way makes a lot of sense to me,” he said. “It’s Democrats playing the game and playing it well.”

Robinson believes most of the Republican hopefuls are smart enough not to take the bait. He expects they won’t address immigration in their speeches, or that they refer to it only in broad strokes.

A top Republican operative in Iowa from the establishment wing of the party said the Democratic efforts will only strengthen King’s standing with GOP activists. This operative also said if Republicans who speak at a conference co-hosted by King are vulnerable to attack, then Hillary Clinton is vulnerable to criticism for every controversial figure she’s ever associated with.

Still, the person said, “Republicans, more than anybody, wish Steve King would keep his mouth shut when he talks about cantaloupes and deportables.”

Immigration seems poised to play a more central role in the nominating fight than it did four years before. Last time, Romney took a hard line because it was the only major issue on which he could get to the right of Rick Perry, who as a border-state governor supported in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants. Perry’s campaign began to unravel when he described those who disagreed with him on the issue – most of them activists – as heartless.

The Republican National Committee’s official post-election autopsy called for the GOP to “embrace and champion” comprehensive immigration reform.

“If we do not, our Party’s appeal will continue to shrink to its core constituencies only,” said the report, which was written by, among others, Sally Bradshaw, a top adviser to former Florida governor and potential 2016 GOP candidate Jeb Bush.

King’s spokeswoman did not respond to interview requests this week. On Tuesday night, he tried to make a joke about his “deportable” tweet — telling reporters to “shake it off,” an apparent reference to the hit song by Taylor Swift. But he went on to say, “Why isn’t the president taking heat for what he’s doing to the rule of law?”