Obama, Out of Office 10 Days, Speaks Out Against Immigration Ban

Former President Barack Obama spoke out on Monday against President Trump’s efforts to seal the United States borders against people from seven predominantly Muslim countries, siding with protesters around the country outraged at Mr. Trump’s crackdown on immigration.

“President Obama is heartened by the level of engagement taking place in communities around the country,” said Kevin Lewis, a spokesman for the former president, in a statement issued after a weekend of protests against Mr. Trump’s executive order. “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.”

Mr. Obama, the statement added, “fundamentally disagrees with the notion of discriminating against individuals because of their faith or religion.”

The statement was muted compared to the expressions of vitriol against Mr. Trump’s order from other Democrats and humanitarian activists. But its timing — only 10 days after Mr. Obama left office vowing to give Mr. Trump time to succeed in the presidency before questioning his policies — indicated that Mr. Obama felt compelled to speak out swiftly against what he sees as a misguided start to a new administration.

Mr. Obama’s statement and the articles and letters from his former top advisers were a break with past custom. Outgoing presidents and their staffs usually grant an informal grace period of sorts to a new administration, staying quiet publicly about policy differences.

Days before leaving the White House, Mr. Obama told reporters that he would only speak out if he felt the nation’s ideals were under threat.

“I want to be quiet a little bit and not hear myself talk so darn much,” he said at his final news conference on Jan. 18. “But there’s a difference between that normal functioning of politics and certain issues or certain moments where I think our core values may be at stake. I put in that category, if I saw systematic discrimination being ratified in some fashion.”

Mr. Obama was still on vacation with his wife in Palm Springs, Calif., on Monday and was not available for an interview, Mr. Lewis said. But after a weekend of watching chaos at airports as green card holders and many others were detained, aides said the former president felt it was vital to express his views.

Mr. Obama was also determined, they added, to push back against the argument — made by Mr. Trump’s advisers as they defended the order — that it had been Mr. Obama’s idea to bar entrants from certain predominantly Muslim countries.

Mr. Obama’s comments came with a reminder that he had in the past spoken out against the kind of tactics Mr. Trump employed on Friday, when he ordered a temporary halt to admitting people from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Sudan or Yemen and a freeze on the United States refugee program, which he said should give priority to Christians in the future.

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