Former President Bill Clinton on Tuesday blasted President Donald Trump’s “cruel” decision to repeal former President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) executive amnesty and urged Congress to “act immediately” to protect DACA recipients.
“It’s wrong because it’s bad policy that solves no pressing problems and raises new ones. It’s wrong because it’s irresponsible, passing the buck instead of offering sensible solutions for immigration reform,” Clinton said in a statement. “Most of all, it’s wrong because it’s cruel to send these young people to places many of them have never lived and do not know. For them this is home. The United States is their home.”
Clinton said instead of “punishing” DACA recipients, “we should find ways to openly embrace them and to empower them to make their own contributions, as previous generations of immigrants have done.”
He added that DACA has brought hundreds of thousands of people out of the shadows, and Trump’s decision to terminate DACA will “crush their dreams and weaken the American Dream for the rest of us.”
On Sunday, Hillary Clinton vowed to “fight with everything we’ve got” to defend DACA.