Hogan has decided state will cooperate with feds on undocumented detainees.
Immigration advocates in Maryland are criticizing a decision by Gov. Larry Hogan to notify federal immigration officials when an illegal immigrant targeted for deportation is released from the state-run Baltimore City Detention Center.
Advocates consider Hogan’s stance to be a departure from the policy of his predecessor, Democrat Martin O’Malley, who last year joined other progressive elected officials in refusing requests from the Obama administration to coordinate with federal law enforcement whenever a detainee was being released.
Hogan’s decision, which was made with no fanfare shortly after he took office in January, is especially troubling, advocates say, because it is his first significant action regarding immigration policy.
CASA de Maryland, an immigrant advocacy group, has scheduled a protest in front of the governor’s mansion Thursday afternoon.
During O’Malley’s eight years as governor, activists applauded his efforts to secure in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants and allow them to obtain driver’s licenses, with some restrictions. They also were buoyed by his position on detainees.
Although Hogan did not campaign on any immigration-related issues, advocates have been watching the Republican governor carefully to see whether he would take an different approach.
“This really is the first ball out of the park,” said Kim Propeak, the director of CASA in Action, the political arm of the immigrant-advocacy organization. “And it doesn’t bode well. It is very, very worrying.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/hogan-has-decided-state-will-cooperate-with-feds-on-undocumented-detainees/2015/08/12/c46b0a2c-4126-11e5-8e7d-9c033e6745d8_story.html
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