--- title: Barack Obama Rips Donald Trump Over DACA Decision description: Former President Barack Obama denounced Trump's decision to rescind the DACA program on Tuesday. canonical: https://time.com/4927707/barack-obama-daca-donald-trump/ author: Alana Abramson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-09-05T19:12:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-08T09:33:01.908Z article:section: Politics og:title: 'This Is About Basic Decency.' Obama Rips Trump Over DACA Decision og:description: The former President issued a rare public statement on a Trump decision og:url: https://time.com/4927707/barack-obama-daca-donald-trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9684c635aac424ca/6988dc82196cf4422a041c9d/daca-obama-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5760 og:image:height: 3240 og:image:alt: daca-obama-trump og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'This Is About Basic Decency.' Obama Rips Trump Over DACA Decision twitter:description: The former President issued a rare public statement on a Trump decision twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9684c635aac424ca/6988dc82196cf4422a041c9d/daca-obama-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 'This Is About Basic Decency.' Obama Rips Trump Over DACA Decision > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=8ee5cc1d-18e0-497d-a7f2-a489a7b38d2f&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: 10 Days That Define the Obama Presidency: Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Announced [Watch (HLS stream): 10 Days That Define the Obama Presidency: Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Announced](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/sMYtJAXN.m3u8) (1:37)  _Published 2017-01-13. As President Obama's two terms in office come to a close, TIME is taking a look back at the most pivotal moments of his presidency._  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Sep 5, 2017 7:12 PM UTC As President Obama's two terms in office come to a close, TIME is taking a look back at the most pivotal moments of his presidency.  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Sep 5, 2017 7:12 PM UTC Former President Barack Obama on Tuesday issued a rare statement condemning a policy decision of his successor, Donald Trump. The rebuke comes after the Trump Administration [announced it would phase out Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA](http://time.com/4927227/daca-undocumented-dreamers-jeff-sessions/?xid=homepage), an Obama-era program protecting from deportation nearly 800,000 undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as minors by their parents. In a statement Tuesday, Trump accused Obama of “making an end-run around Congress” by enacting DACA by executive order, as well as “violating the core tenets that sustain our Republic.” “The legislative branch, not the executive branch, writes these laws – this is the bedrock of our Constitutional system, which I took a solemn oath to preserve, protect, and defend,” Trump said. Obama countered later Tuesday, writing on Twitter that “to target hopeful young strivers who grew up here is wrong, because they’ve done nothing wrong.” He then linked to a [lengthier statement on Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/barackobama/posts/10155227588436749). > [](https://twitter.com/BarackObama/status/905141484386750469) Read Obama’s full statement below: --- > “” --- ## Transcript [00:00] Over the next few months, eligible individuals who do [00:03] not present a risk to national security or public safety [00:07] will be able to request temporary relief from [00:11] deportation. In 2012 President Obama implemented [00:15] a policy that protected children who were brought to [00:18] the US by their parents, undocumented children called [00:21] the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. It protected [00:24] about 700, 000 young people from deportation. This [00:28] is a Temporary stop gap measure that lets us focus [00:32] our resources wisely while giving a degree of relief and [00:35] hope to talented, driven patriotic young [00:40] people. It ended up being his main policy on [00:44] immigration. The only problem with that policy was it's [00:47] Largely temporary and it can easily be rolled back by [00:50] the next president. Obama [ FOREIGN ] Barack Obama [00:54] leaves a bit of a mixed bag on immigration reform. [00:56] While he was helping these young arrivals, he also [01:02] was enforcing immigration laws that saw [01:06] 2. 4 million In people deported from the US. [01:10] And the president failed to get legislation passed [01:14] during his first term, when had the majority in the [01:17] house and senate. So in 2012, when he implemented [01:20] DACA, it was see kind of as a watershed moment. [01:24] People were very excited, thinking that this would be [01:26] the first and many uses of executive power to kind of [01:29] Make a dent on immigration reform but it never [01:31] happened. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4927707/barack-obama-daca-donald-trump/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4927707/barack-obama-daca-donald-trump/"},"headline":"'This Is About Basic Decency.' 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