Obama slams Trump’s DACA decision, calling it ‘cruel,’ ‘self- defeating’

Former U.S. president Barack Obama is calling out
President Donald Trump’s decision to end the so-
called Dreamer program.
In a Facebook post on Tuesday, he said a “shadow
has been cast over some of our best and brightest
young people once again.”
“It is self-defeating –
because they want to start
new businesses, staff our
labs, serve in our military,
and otherwise contribute
to the country we love.
And it is cruel.”
READ MORE: Canada could be a Plan B for older
Dreamers, immigration lawyer says
WATCH BELOW: U.S. Attorney General Jeff
Sessions announced Tuesday that the DACA
program is being rescinded.
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The Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood
Arrivals program protects people who had been
brought to the U.S. illegally as children from
deportation. It has processed about 800,000
successful applicants, aged 16 to 35, who had to
meet certain educational standards and have clean
criminal records got work permits and some degree
of security.
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions axed the
program Tuesday, saying “we cannot admit
everyone who wants to come” to the United
States.
Trump said Obama bypassed Congress to
implement the DACA program and said the
executive branch of the government shouldn’t have
the power to do that.
In a statement from the White House, Trump said
though he does not “favor punishing children … for
the action of their parents,” the immigration laws
of the country must be upheld.
Obama disagrees, though.
“Let’s be clear: the action taken today isn’t
required legally,” he wrote. “It’s a political decision,
and a moral question. Whatever concerns or
complaints Americans may have about immigration
in general, we shouldn’t threaten the future of this
group of young people who are here through no
fault of their own, who pose no threat, who are not
taking away anything from the rest of us.”
Obama did not mention Trump by name in his
statement but says targeting the Dreamers is
wrong “because they have done nothing wrong.”
READ MORE: Who are the thousands of ‘Dreamers’
facing deportation from the U.S.?
Obama says it’s up to members of Congress to act
and he joins his voice with the majority of
Americans who hope Congress will step up.
“Ultimately, this is about basic decency. This is
about whether we are a people who kick hopeful
young strivers out of America, or whether we treat
them the way we’d want our own kids to be
treated. It’s about who we are as a people – and
who we want to be,” he wrote.

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