'This Is About Basic Decency': Obama Denounces Trump as DACA Decision Sparks Nationwide Protest

As former President Barack Obama slammed President Donald Trump’s decision to end the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program on Tuesday, thousands of undocumented immigrants and allies took to the streets in protest, including dozens arrested at a dramatic protest outside Trump Tower in New York City.

“To target these young people is wrong… It is self-defeating… And it is cruel.”
—Former President Barack Obama”Ultimately, this is about basic decency,” Obama wrote in a lengthy Facebook post, adding his voice to a chorus of condemnation that followed the announcement that the Trump administration will end DACA, which provides work permits and temporary protection from deportation to undocumented people brought to the U.S. as children.

“To target these young people is wrong—because they have done nothing wrong,” Obama continued. “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.”

In addition to calling upon members of Congress to pass immigration legislation—and noting they failed to do so during his eight years in office—Obama acknowledged the demonstrations, in favor of DACA, that have taken place nationwide for the past several days, adding: “It is precisely because this action is contrary to our spirit, and to common sense, that business leaders, faith leaders, economists, and Americans of all political stripes called on the administration not to do what it did today.”

Outside the White House and Trump Tower in New York City, as well as across the country, undocumented immigrants and supporters of immigrant rights turned up in droves to condemn the Trump administration’s decision, and compel Congress to take action to protect DACA recipients and the other millions of people living in the United States without legal status.

In New York City, at least 30 DACA recipients and allies were arrested for sitting on Fifth Avenue outside Trump Tower, Gothamist reports.

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Shortly after Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ 11am announcement on Tuesday that DACA will begin a “wind down process,” New Yorkers filled the streets surrounding Trump Tower, marching and chanting “No papers, no fear!” and “We reject a fascist America!”