Martin O’Malley talks immigration at DePaul.

'Former Maryland governor and Democratic presidential candidate Martin O’Malley talked about comprehensive immigration reform, including access to education and affordable healthcare for immigrants, on DePaul’s Loop campus Thursday afternoon.

O’Malley fielded questions from an audience of immigration reform activists and business owners, members of the Illinois Business Immigration Coalition (IBIC), who hosted the forum in conjunction with DePaul, but not before highlighting his own accomplishments as governor of Maryland from 2007 to 2015.

“My parents always raised me with the understanding that we were all once strangers in a strange land, and every single day of my service as mayor and as governor, I’ve very consciously used the term not ‘illegal immigrants,’ but ‘new Americans,’” he said. “I stand before you today as the only presidential candidate who offers new Americans not just words, but actions, and I have a track record to prove it.”

Many of O’Malley’s accomplishments deal with education: he stated that under his Governorship, Maryland withstood increases in college tuition for four consecutive years, and that his administration increased investments to public education by 37 percent. He emphasized the 2011 implementation of the DREAM Act, which decreased college tuition rates at community colleges for undocumented students, who are ineligible for federal loans.

The theme of access to education for undocumented immigrants arose at several points, both in O’Malley’s introduction and through questions from leaders in the IBIC community. This is an issue hits close to home at DePaul, said Liz Ortiz, Vice President for the Office of Institutional Equity and Diversity.

“DePaul very rarely takes a stance on social policy, but it’s heartbreaking to see students suffer because of their undocumented status. I believe that DePaul stands with them because these are our students, this is what makes DePaul the university that it is,” she said.

A founding member of the IBIC, DePaul and specifically DePaul President Fr. Holtschneider, didn’t hesitate to accept the coalition’s request to hold the forum here, a spokeswoman for the university said. Fr. Holtschneider himself is an advocate for immigration reform, she said, evidenced by his several bylines on opinion pieces, letters, and books arguing for the DREAM Act and other routes to increase access for immigrants.

O’Malley, on the other hand, plans to use the oval office to accomplish this goal.

As president, I intend to use the full legal and executive authority of my office —or I should say your office, entrusted to me — to safeguard and better include New Americans in the life of our country,” O’Malley said.

This inclusion, he said, will be in the form of expanding Deferred Action status to include millions of immigrants beyond just immigrant children and their parents; repealing three- and 10-year ban policies, which prevent immigrants who once resided in the country illegally, left voluntarily and wish to come back legally, from doing so; and expanding the Affordable Care Act to include coverage for undocumented immigrants.

Integration of undocumented immigrants not only contributes to the founding principles of America, O’Malley said, but promotes economic growth.

“If we want to get wages to go back up, I believe that one good way to do that is to get 11 million of our neighbors out of the shadow economy and onto the books in the open American economy to make wages go up for all Americans,” he said

O’Malley referenced an estimate by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) in 2013 that estimates that inclusion of 11 million immigrants would increase work productivity, resulting in an increase in average wages equivalent to $250 per household.

The CBO wrote: “Once productivity gains and higher capital levels materialize – all skill groups would see higher wages as a result of enacting the Senate bill, with real wages rising by the equivalent of $250 annually for the median household, in today’s dollars. Commonsense immigration reform will also increase wages and productivity for immigrants themselves.”

Numbers aside, “it’s also about our values,” O’Malley said. “The enduring symbol of our nation is not the barb-wired fence, it is not for-profit detention camps on our border; the enduring symbol of our country is the Statue of Liberty and we need to act like it. “

Jose Perales, Director of Operations for the Office of Institutional Equity and Diversity, said this issue not only represents the fabric of democracy, but of Catholicism as well.

“The message we heard is that it is a moral issue, it is an issue that very well aligns with the social justice mission of a Vincentian mission, and so we think it’s the right thing to do,” he said.

Read questions asked to O’Malley during a Q&A session: >>>

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