Attorney General Brian Frosh and Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake announced a campaign to help Baltimore's immigrants take advantage of President Barack Obama's recent actions to allow work permits while warning of immigration fraud.
In front of a packed room in southeast Baltimore, the politicians both even spoke a little Spanish.
"I've been practicing," the mayor said.
The public information campaign will encourage immigrants to apply for a federal program that suspends efforts to deport some immigrants who are the parents of U.S. citizens or who entered the country before their 16th birthday. The campaign encourages the immigrants to go through lawyers, the city or the Enoch Pratt Library to determine who should help them with the application process.
Both Frosh and Rawlings-Blake warned that some businesses call themselves "notaries" but do little to help immigrants. The Attorney General's office has received 20 complaints against such immigrants consultants since 2009.
Immigrants in Baltimore own or rent nearly 20,000 homes, according to the mayor's office, and pump more than $1.3 billion into the local economy. Immigrants own 9 percent of all businesses in Baltimore.
"For far too long a broken immigration system has held new Americans back," Rawlings-Blake said. "These actions will mean a better life for so many families."
Baltimore last month joined dozens of cities to Obama's actions on immigration — weighing in on a federal lawsuit that has divided state and local leaders over the economic impact of having people in the country without legal documentation.
Texas and 24 other states are arguing in court that Obama's plan to delay deportation for millions of immigrants will force them to spend more on schools, public safety and health care. A dozen states, including Maryland, have countered that bringing immigrants out of the shadows will help increase wages and expand tax bases.
"The nation will benefit from this policy," Frosh said of Obama's actions.
For more information about the campaign, go to: mayor.baltimorecity.gov/mima/immigration-action.
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