Obama rips Trump's DACA decision: 'This is about basic decency'

Former President Barack Obama responded at length to President Trump's decision Tuesday to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, writing on Facebook that "these DREAMers are Americans in their hearts, in their minds, in every single way but one: on paper."

On Tuesday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said DACA, which protects individuals known as DREAMers who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children, was "unconstitutional" when it was implemented by Obama in 2012 via executive action. Sessions also said DACA had "denied jobs to hundreds of thousands of Americans" by granting work authorization. Obama responded in his statement, writing that "because it made no sense to expel talented, driven, patriotic young people from the only country they know solely because of the actions of their parents, my administration acted to lift the shadow of deportation from these young people, so that they could continue to contribute to our communities and our country."

Obama went on:

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"Ultimately, this is about basic decency," Obama concluded. "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." Read Obama's full statement here.