White House hopeful Martin O’Malley unveils immigration plan

The former Maryland governor unveiled his immigration platform at a New York City event, where immigrants in the country illegally shared their stories.

Democratic presidential candidate Martin O’Malley said Tuesday he would significantly expand the use of executive action to defer the deportation of millions of immigrants in the country illegally. As an outside candidate polling well behind Hillary Clinton, he needs to make the argument that he is better than she is on the issues that matter to people. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) spoke out in favor of comprehensive immigration reform on Monday in speeches to the National Council of La Raza, an advocacy group for Hispanic Americans.

“More than eight million permanent residents are eligible to naturalize today”, O’Malley said, “but the process so very hard and intimidating that not enough people try”.

O’Malley sounded optimistic about the prospect of Congress passing a comprehensive immigration reform bill-at least after a few election cycles. This appeal to the nature of America and the fair was a running theme in his remarks. The Marylander took a shot at the Republican when he said, “The enduring symbol of our nation is the Statue of Liberty, not a barbed wire fence”, a reference to Trump’s wall solution to immigration.

Still, advocates said Mr. O’Malley’s plan set the benchmark for others. The Maryland governor highlights the fact that respectful and honest individuals who work legally in the USA deserve a fair chance at citizenship, rather than being ripped away from their children and families who they work so hard to provide for. O’Malley, however, did not mince words.

“Now, to continue to attract the next generation of strivers, dreamers and risk-takers and to be true to the values we hold dear, we must pursue a dynamic, modern approach to immigration policy as a nation”, he wrote.

O’Malley is now behind in the Democratic primary, getting only one to two percent in the most recent polls. This message resonated with the audience and some immigration activists have already come out in support of O’Malley’s policies.

“I stood up to the Obama administration on deportation of unaccompanied minors and have stood with President Obama on his executive actions on DACA and DAPA” – Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals and Deferred Action on Parental Accountability.