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:
- 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.”
- 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 According to the study, if DACA were repealed, it would potentially open up 700,000 jobs that could be filled by American citizens.
- 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.”
