---
title: "Obama calls Trump repeal of migrant amnesty 'wrong', 'cruel'"
description: "Former US president Barack Obama decried his successor’s decision to end an amnesty for 800,000 people brought to America illegally as children, describing it as \"wrong,\" \"self-defeating\" and \"cruel.\""
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "Newsdeck"
author: "AFP"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/afp/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2017-09-05-obama-calls-trump-repeal-of-migrant-amnesty-wrong-cruel/"
published: "2017-09-05T22:01:58"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 71
---

# Obama calls Trump repeal of migrant amnesty 'wrong', 'cruel'

> Former US president Barack Obama decried his successor’s decision to end an amnesty for 800,000 people brought to America illegally as children, describing it as "wrong," "self-defeating" and "cruel."

By AFP · Published 6 September 2017, 00:01 SAST

## Content

In a rare re-entry onto the political stage, Obama used a Facebook post to slam Trump's decision and call on Congress to step in.

"To target these young people is wrong -- because they have done nothing wrong. It is self-defeating -- because they want to start new businesses, staff our labs, serve in our military, and otherwise contribute to the country we love. And it is cruel," he wrote. DM