--- title: Barack Obama Supports Protests Against Immigration Ban description: Barack Obama commended Americans for the widespread protests in response to President Donald Trump's sweeping immigration order canonical: https://time.com/4653909/barack-obama-immigration-ban-protests/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-30T19:37:10.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T03:02:07.588Z article:section: Politics og:title: Barack Obama Says He Supports Protests Against Immigration Ban og:description: "American values are at stake" og:url: https://time.com/4653909/barack-obama-immigration-ban-protests/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt693ae68b08b98bba/6988b7e097cdffe4b36af4f6/barack-obama-protest.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: President Obama Holds Year-End Press Conference og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Barack Obama Says He Supports Protests Against Immigration Ban twitter:description: "American values are at stake" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt693ae68b08b98bba/6988b7e097cdffe4b36af4f6/barack-obama-protest.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Barack Obama Praises Protests Against President Trump's Immigration Ban: 'American Values Are at Stake' by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Jan 30, 2017 7:37 PM UTC  Former-President Obama holds a year-end press conference addressing email hacking and cyber security at The White House on December 16, 2016 in Washington, DC. Former-President Obama holds a year-end press conference addressing email hacking and cyber security at The White House on December 16, 2016 in Washington, DC.Leigh Vogel—WireImage by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Jan 30, 2017 7:37 PM UTC Former President [Barack Obama](http://time.com/money/4641558/barack-obama-job-earn-after-president-white-house/) released a statement on Monday commending Americans for the [widespread protests](http://time.com/4652654/jfk-detain-trump-immigration-order/) in response to President Donald Trump’s sweeping immigration order. Obama, in his first public [statement](https://twitter.com/Anthony/status/826145582561492993) since leaving the White House, said he was “heartened by the level of engagement taking place in communities around the country.” “Citizens exercising their Constitutional right to assemble, organize and have their voices heard by the elected officials is exactly what we expect to see when American values are at stake,” he said. Thousands across the U.S. and the world [protested](http://time.com/4653063/donald-trump-muslim-ban-new-york-protests/) Trump’s ban on immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries as travelers were [detained in airports](http://time.com/4652918/donald-trump-immigration-ban-muslim-protests/). Trump has justified the ban by [comparing](https://www.facebook.com/DonaldTrump/posts/10158567643610725) it to Obama’s 2011 policy on refugees from Iraq. Obama in the statement said he “fundamentally disagrees with the notion of discriminating against individuals because of their faith or religion.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4653909/barack-obama-immigration-ban-protests/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4653909/barack-obama-immigration-ban-protests/"},"headline":"Barack Obama Praises Protests Against President Trump's Immigration Ban: 'American Values Are at Stake'","datePublished":"2017-01-30T19:37:10.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T03:02:07.588Z","description":"\"American values are at stake\"","url":"https://time.com/4653909/barack-obama-immigration-ban-protests/","keywords":["Barack Obama","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt693ae68b08b98bba/6988b7e097cdffe4b36af4f6/barack-obama-protest.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt693ae68b08b98bba/6988b7e097cdffe4b36af4f6/barack-obama-protest.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Obama Holds Year-End Press Conference","caption":"President Obama Holds Year-End Press Conference","creditText":"Leigh Vogel—WireImage","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4653909/barack-obama-immigration-ban-protests/","name":"Barack Obama Praises Protests Against President Trump's Immigration Ban: 'American Values Are at Stake'"}}]}] ```