Democratic presidential hopeful Martin O’Malley says plans to deport hundreds of illegal immigrants in a series of raids are not befitting of the Christmas season.
“A Christmas Refugee Roundup sounds like something [Donald Trump] would concoct,” O’Malley tweeted Thursday. “Remember: Jesus was a refugee child who fled death gangs.”
{mosads}O’Malley’s comments come hours after reports emerged that the Department of Homeland Security is planning a push to deport hundreds of immigrants from Central America who fled violence in their homelands.
Trump, the Republican presidential front-runner, has called for a halt to a Syrian refugee relocation program and has advocated a temporary ban on Muslim immigration to the country.
In the nativity story recounted in the Gospel of Luke, Joseph and Mary go to Bethlehem after Caesar Augustus issued a decree calling for a census.
After Jesus was born, according to the Gospel of Matthew, Mary and Joseph were warned by an angel to flee to Egypt before King Herod issued a decree calling for all male infants to be killed.