Obama to Issue Rare Statement if Trump Kills DACA as Expected

Former President Will Use Social Media to Reach More Than 100 Million People if Trump Ends Popular Program

Former President Barack Obama will issue a rare statement denouncing President Donald Trump‘s decision to end DACA, if it comes as expected. Trump is expected to announce on Tuesday that he is ending DACA, but will offer a six-month grace period to allow Congress to take legislative action. That decision could still change, but it is unlikely.

DACA, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, is a program Obama created in 2012. It currently protects from deportation over 800,000 undocumented immigrants, known as DREAMers, who were brought to the U.S. by their parents as children. 

Politico reports “Obama’s current plan is to post a statement on Facebook and link to it on Twitter, where the former president has more than 94 million followers. In his final presidential press availability, he suggested that he would speak out if Trump went after the Dreamers — and that it was one of the few issues where he would feel morally compelled to do so. He said he would not remain silent in the face of ‘efforts to round up kids who have grown up here and for all practical purposes are American kids, and send them someplace else, when they love this country.'”

“The single most important thing I can do,” Obama told an audience of students in April, is “help in any way I can prepare the next generation of leadership to take up the baton and to take their own crack at changing the world.”

Doing so would certainly rile up Trump, but it would send a strong message as well, especially since 71 percent of Americans believe there should be a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. 

Several key Republican lawmakers have already spoken out, saying Trump should not scrap the popular program. But the president’s base wants it gone.

On Sunday night Politico reported that Trump had decided to end DACA, with the six month delay. 

“Senior White House aides huddled Sunday afternoon to discuss the rollout of a decision likely to ignite a political firestorm — and fulfill one of the president’s core campaign promises,” Politico noted. 

Attorney General Jeff Session appears to be the one closest to Trump urging him to kill DACA. Sessions “argued that Congress — rather than the executive branch — is responsible for writing immigration law, helped persuade the president to terminate the program and kick the issue to Congress,” Politico reported.

Barack Obama has well over 50 million fans and followers on Facebook.

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Image by Obama White House via Flickr 

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