Martin O'Malley Blasts Democratic Rivals For Skipping Immigration Forum. [View all]

Democrat Martin O'Malley's campaign accused his rivals for the party's presidential nomination of ceding the immigration debate to Donald Trump because they are skipping an Iowa immigration forum this weekend.

O'Malley and former Sen. Lincoln Chafee, D-R.I., are the only two candidates planning to be at the #UniteIowa forum that is intended to be a bipartisan event promoting what its creator, Des Moines Register columnist Kyle Munson, intended to be a "thoughtful, statewide conversation on immigration."

"Democrats should not cede the immigration debate to Donald Trump, but that's exactly what they do when they skip critical forums like the first-ever #UniteIowa immigration forum," O'Malley spokeswoman Gabriela Domenzain said Tuesday. "If anything it shows that Democrats are all words, no action when it comes to immigration." . .

Munson said many campaigns, including Clinton's, declined invitations to the event.

The forum is intended to bring civility and depth to the discussion of immigration, Munson said. It will start with a bipartisan panel that includes immigration activists, a Republican economics professor, a businessman and local pastor.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/martin-omalley-blasts-rivals-skipping-iowa-immigration-forum-n415771