Double down.

Update to this story.

(CNN) – Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley defended his criticism of Obama administration plans to return thousands of undocumented children to Central America, even after his remarks sparked a heated discussion with a senior White House official.

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

“What I said was that would not be the most inviting site in Maryland. There are already hundreds of kids already located throughout Maryland,” O’Malley said of his phone conversation with Munoz.

A potential Democratic presidential candidate in 2016 and rival to Hillary Clinton, O’Malley urged the White House to welcome the children to the United States as “refugees.”