Activists for illegal immigrants are protesting a decision by Maryland governor Larry Hogan to notify federal immigration officials when an illegal immigrant who has been convicted of a serious crime, is involved in a gang, or is considered a threat to national security is about to be released from detention facilities in Baltimore.
Hogan's decision to enforce the federal request is a departure from the policy of his predecessor, Governor Martin O'Malley, who refused to alert authorities as to the time and place where criminal aliens would be released from the city's detention facilities.
Protests, led by the illegal immigrant activist group "CASA de Maryland," are scheduled for Thursday outside of the governor's mansion in Annapolis.
The federal initiative, put into place by the Obama administration, asks local officials to notify "Immigration and Customs Enforcement" (ICE) 48 hours before an immigrant who is being targeted for deportation is scheduled to be released so that agents can move to detain them.
While CASA and other groups that seek to gain rights for illegal immigrants are up in arms citing concerns about the civil liberties of illegals, the Department of Homeland Security insists that the program is only meant to target those illegal immigrants who commit serious crimes.
Despite the specific targeting of felons, CASA de Maryland remains in staunch opposition - though, they have given no specifics as to why they oppose the governor's decision to comply with the federal request.
"This really is the first ball out of the park,” said CASA director Kim Propeak. “And it doesn’t bode well. It is very, very worrying.”
Far more "worrying," apparently, than illegal aliens who have been detained for serious crimes being released to, once again, walk the streets.
While Hogan has decided to abide by the federal request he has made no effort to reverse the state's programs that allows illegal immigrants to obtain driver's licenses or the legislation that provides in-state tuition to undocumented immigrants.
The move comes in the wake of several high profile incidents in which illegal immigrants have committed felonies after being released from state prisons.