O'Malley highlights immigration record at Latino festival

Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley made a case Sunday at the Des Moines Latino Heritage Festival that he's the best candidate in the Democratic Party to lead on immigration issues.

The presidential hopeful rolled off a list of accomplishments on immigration issues that he often has on the Iowa campaign trail. In his two terms as governor, O'Malley signed bills giving certain undocumented immigrants in Maryland access to driver's licenses and in-state tuition rates at public colleges.

"(There will be candidates) who will stand before you and profess to have progressive goals and progressive values for our country, and they will also profess to have these goals and values when it comes to immigration reform and treating new Americans with the human dignity that God bestows on every individual," he said. "Let me say this, there is a big difference between the saying and the doing."

In a policy proposal released in July, O'Malley said he'd use executive orders to expand the number of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. who are protected from deportation. Karen Ventura, a 26-year-old Perry resident, asked the former governor what he'd do for families who have already been separated by deportations.

In an interview, Ventura said her mother, Margoth Villalobos, fled Guatemala and was granted asylum in the U.S. two decades ago after her significant other was killed. But approximately six years ago, she was deported back to the country after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement decided Villalobos was no longer in danger. The agency picked up Villalobos from her workplace in Oskaloosa, Ventura said.

"She had been here for so many years and she had built a life here," she said.

"This story is why we need to do better," O'Malley responded to the question. He said the U.S. needs to move away from deportation policies that break up families, unless there's a valid public safety reason for doing so.

AT THE EVENT

SETTING: Des Moines Latino Heritage Festival

CROWDS: The crowd stretched several rows back from the community forum stage where O'Malley spoke.

REACTION: The crowd cheered after O'Malley responded to a question that he's against for-profit prisons. He was also applauded after saying the federal government shouldn't detain families facing immigration proceedings. One audience member shouted, "Viva O'Malley."

WHAT'S NEXT: The Sunday stopped finished a two-day swing through Iowa. O'Malley is currently scheduled to be in the state next for the Oct. 24 Iowa Democratic Party's Jefferson-Jackson Dinner.