Former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley first came to my attention during the child refugee crisis last summer. He was one of the few to push back against the White House's plan to deport these children. While I am a huge supporter of President Obama, I thought the WH decision to send these children back is against everything we stand for as a country. What he said while at the National Governor's Association was delivered with passion and conviction and made me start to take O'Malley seriously as a candidate for 2016:
“Through all of the great world religions we are told that hospitality to strangers is an essential human dignity,” O’Malley said. “It is a belief that unites all of us. And I have watched the pictures of young kids who have traveled for thousands of miles. I can only imagine, as a father of four, the heartbreak that those parents must have felt in sending their children across a desert where they can be muled and trafficked or used or killed or tortured. But with the hope, the hope, that they would reach the United States and that their children would be protected from what they were facing at home, which was the likelihood of being recruited into gangs and dying a violent death.”
We have to do right not just by these kids but by our kids and protect the children who are here, put them in the least restrictive settings, get them out of these detention centers and these kennels where they are being cooped up, and operate as the good and generous people that we have always been,” he added. “That’s what’s at stake here, as well as the lives of these kids.”
hereHe put his money where his mouth was. Maryland took in more child refugees than any other state per capita. He made sure the children weren't housed in abandoned warehouses but placed in foster care or small group homes. This was done by bringing together faith leaders and social service groups to come up with a comprehensive solution that would be most beneficial to the children.
This is not the only immigration issue he has led on. Immigration is definitely something O'Malley feels passionately about.
Over the past few years, O’Malley has enacted what reads like an activist’s wish list. He passed the DREAM Act in 2011 (now 36,000 undocumented immigrants have access to in-state tuition); the state gave driver’s licenses to tax-paying undocumented immigrants in 2013; and in April of this year, O’Malley informed the Department of Homeland Security that Maryland would no longer comply with the Secure Communities program that facilitates the deportation of undocumented immigrants.
Gustavo Torres, the executive director of CASA de Maryland, has worked extensively with O’Malley. He was effusive in his praise, noting it comes down to a simple but powerful feeling: O’Malley treats immigrants with respect.
At a recent speech at a Casa de Maryland awards reception, O’Malley was in his element. He talked about starting the Maryland Council for New Americans in 2008, an initiative to help immigrants with English proficiency, job training, and “starting on the path to becoming a citizen,” to whoops and applause from the crowd.
In 2014, O'Malley
ACLU and CASA de Maryland:
Today, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Maryland and CASA de Maryland hailed an announcement by Governor Martin O’Malley that the Baltimore City Detention Center, which is run by the state, will stop honoring most Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainers. The reform significantly expands a policy enacted earlier this year, in light of Fourth Amendment and due process concerns raised by the groups.
"We applaud this news from the Governor recognizing the fundamental constitutional rights of all Marylanders," said Gustavo Torres, Executive Director of CASA de Maryland. "Under Governor O’Malley’s leadership, Maryland has knit together a community and we look forward to counties across the state following suit."
As O'Malley is gearing up for a potential 2016 presidential announcement at the end of May, he continues to
push for immigration reform (full video
here):
He also spoke to the Register about immigration reform, saying he supports laying out a path to citizenship.
"We have delayed immigration reform for far too long," he said. "When people live in the full light of an open society, paying their taxes abiding by the rules, that makes our country not only safer and more secure, because people are not relegated to living in the shadows, you're not creating underground economies. It also is better for wages."