Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley, a dark horse candidate for the Democratic nomination for President and a critic of the number of deportations that have occurred under the Obama administration, asked that some of the immigrant children who recently entered the country not be sent to his state.

Last week, in a speech to the National Governor's Association, O'Malley said that sending the illegal immigrant children back was akin to sentencing them to "certain death" and asked the administration not to deport them. He also criticized the quality of care the children received once taken into custody, calling the facilities where they were kept "kennels."

Yet despite his deep concerns for the plight of immigrant children, O'Malley made clear he did not want them to be housed in his state. CNN reports:

In an interview with CNN, O'Malley acknowledged that he asked White House domestic policy adviser Cecilia Muñoz that the immigrants not be sent to a site in western Maryland that was under consideration. [...]

A Democratic source familiar with the call suggested O'Malley's request was hypocritical, given his sharp rebuke of the administration's proposal to give the Homeland Security Department more power to expedite deportations of unaccompanied minors and their families.

"He privately said 'please don't send these kids to western Maryland,'" the Democratic source said.

O'Malley tried to explain his refusal to accept the immigrant children at the Maryland site, saying, "What I said was that would not be the most inviting site in Maryland. There are already hundreds of kids already located throughout Maryland."

"The bigger point is that we are Americans," said O'Malley, "and we do not return refugee kids who find themselves on our doorstep back into war-torn or famine-racked places where they will face certain death. So I think we have to act like Americans."