“You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here.”
Who knew that lyrics from Semisonic song “Closing Time” could so aptly encompass the thoughts of Democratic Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley as he struggles to find his stance on the nation’s border crisis.
According to CNN, O’Malley privately begged White House Director of Domestic Policy Council Cecilia Munoz not to send any of the young immigrants that have flooded the country to his state after publicly criticizing the Obama administration’s plan to send these kids back to Central America.
“He privately said ‘please don’t send these kids to Western Maryland,'” a source said of a call between O’Malley and Munoz on Friday night.
The call came just hours after O’Malley chastised the White House at a National Governors Association meeting for its plan to dismiss the young undocumented immigrants from the United States.
“We are not a country that should turn children away and send them back to certain death,” asserted the Maryland governor.
He added that “hospitality to strangers is an essential human dignity.”
Apparently according to O’Malley, though, Maryland is not obliged to practice the same “hospitality” as the rest of the country. After catching wind of a proposal being mulled over by the government to bring the children to a former Army Reserve Center located in Westminster, Maryland, O’Malley reportedly made clear his distaste of the idea to Munoz in the private phone call.
“Governor O’Malley and his administration are working cooperatively with federal officials to find suitable locations in Maryland for unaccompanied minors fleeing violence in Central America,” detailed Nina Smith, O’Malley’s press secretary, after confirming the occurrence of the call. “As he has said repeatedly, he believes the priority should be placing children with family members and – if that’s not possible – locating housing that is safe, humane, and non-restrictive.”
Smith also insisted that the Maryland governor has helped the White House “identify ways Maryland can assist with this humanitarian crisis.”
Somewhere in Maryland, Governor O’Malley is probably humming, “So gather up your jackets, move it to the exits.”
