Breaking his silence, Former President Barack Obama, speaks about immigration order. Since leaving the office, for the first time, he spoke on political issues, he praised protesters who gathered across the country in opposition to President Donald Trump’s immigration orders.
Obama’s spokesman, Kevin Lewis said, ‘‘The president fundamentally disagrees with the notion of discriminating against individuals because of their faith or religion.’’
In his first statement, Lewis on behalf of the former president Obama said that, he was ‘‘heartened’’ by the amount of engagement taking place in U.S. communities. A former White House official, Lewis, pointed out that Obama used his last official speech as president, to talk about Americans’ responsibility to be ‘‘guardians of our democracy,’’ even in non-election years.
Lewis said, ‘‘Citizens exercising their constitutional right to assemble, organize and have their voices heard by their elected officials is exactly what we expect to see when American values are at stake.’’
Lewis did not specifically invoke the Trump’s immigration order. But, Lewis rejected comparisons between Trump’s actions and decisions of Obama on foreign policy decisions.
Trump said that, he took cues from Obama by temporarily banning travel to the U.S. from citizens of seven countries, which Obama’s administration identified as places of terrorism concern. But, Obama’s designation related strictly to eligibility to enter the U.S. without visa, he never considered a travel ban on the citizens.
Obama’s office is circulated with excerpts from a speech, given by the former president in November 2015, in which, he called the idea of a ban on Muslims is ‘‘shameful.’’
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Obama said, ‘‘That’s not American. That’s not who we are. We don’t have religious tests to our compassion,’’ in the aftermath of attacks in Paris that prompted calls for the U.S. to restrict Syrian refugees from entering the United States.
The White House and Trump have vigorously disputed the notion that Trump’s order is a ‘‘Muslim ban.’’ Trump’s halts on all refugee admissions for 120 days, suspends the Syrian refugees indefinitely, and also suspends entry to U.S. from seven majority-Muslim countries for 90 days. But, the White House has stressed that, dozens of other Muslim-majority countries aren’t included in the order. Lewis comments, mark the first time Obama has weighed on Trump’s actions, since Obama left office on Jan. 20. In his final weeks as president, Obama said that, he planned to follow George W. Bush’s example, by giving his successor room to govern without being second-guessed.
Obama, pointedly reserved the right to speak out, if Trump violated what Obama called basic American values. Obama suggested that, a ban on Muslims, or a move by Trump to deport immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children would cross that threshold.
By Mrudula
