State and county budget problems, last week’s release of federal Real ID regulations and a hotly contested Republican congressional primary on the Eastern Shore are making illegal immigration a hot topic for Maryland lawmakers this year.

Gov. Martin O’Malley announced this week that he wants transportation officials to comply with federal Real ID requirements that require immigrants to prove they are in the country legally in order to drive, prompting some immigrant advocates to say he has caved to anti-illegal-immigration rhetoric.

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