Obama RIPS Trump For Ending Executive Amnesty: ‘Cruel’

Former President Barack Obama called President Donald Trump’s decision to do away with the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program contrary to the American spirit and common sense in a Facebook post on Tuesday, where he made unfounded claims regarding the effects of rescinding DACA.

Obama’s Facebook post appealed to people’s emotions as he called Trump’s decision “cruel” and “self-defeating” while he praised DACA recipients as “patriots who pledge allegiance to our flag.”

Included in Obama’s Facebook post was a series of misleading statements that do not stand up well to scrutiny:

1. Obama labeled DACA recipients as some of America’s “best and brightest young people” which is, at best, stretching the truth. A 2014 report from the Migration Policy Institute estimated that “fewer than one-in-ten of the 850,000 adult illegals then potentially eligible for DACA had two-year vocational college qualification or better.” Furthermore, only 1% had an advanced degree while 60% only achieved a high school-level “exit credential.”
2. Obama stated “Kicking them out won’t lower the unemployment rate,” which does not match the findings of a recent study conducted by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s FWD.us group — a pro-immigration/open borders lobbying group. According to the study, if DACA were repealed, it would potentially open up 700,000 jobs that could be filled by American citizens.
3. Obama also stated that kicking out DACA recipients won’t “lighten anyone’s taxes,” yet another statement that does not match facts. A 2013 study by the Heritage Foundation found that amnesty for the roughly 11 million illegal aliens in the U.S. would cost taxpayers $6.3 trillion dollars.

The former president concluded his statement by saying the decision was about morals and basic human decency and that the goal of America should be to reach a more “perfect union.” Nowhere in Obama’s statement did he reference the need to protect American jobs and interests aside from briefly mentioning, “We all want safe, secure borders.”