Washington: Barack Obama on Tuesday hit out at Donald Trump, warning that 'American values' are at stake as the former president voiced his support to mass protests against his successor's controversial travel ban on Muslims and the "extreme vetting" orders.
Breaking his silence over Trump's controversial immigration policies, Obama, who left the White House just 10 days ago, said he fundamentally disagrees with the notion of discriminating against individuals because of their faith or religion.
"With regard to comparisons to President Obama's foreign policy decisions, as we've heard before the President fundamentally disagrees with the notion of discriminating against individuals because of their faith or religion," Obama's spokesman Kevin Lewis said in a statement.
This is the first press statement issued by the office of Barack Obama after he left the office 10 days ago. Lewis said Obama is heartened by the level of engagement taking place in communities around the country.
"In his final office speech as President. He spoke about the important role of citizen and how all Americans have a responsibility to be the guardians of our democracy not just during an election but every day," he said.
"Citizens exercising their constitutional right to assemble, organise and have their voices heard by their elected official is exactly what we expect to see when American values are at stake," Lewis said.
Trump's executive order bars citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States for the next 90 days, suspends the admission of all refugees for 120 days and indefinitely suspends the Syrian refugee programme.
Former presidents walk a fine line between staying political engaged and avoiding knocking their successor, CNN said.
President George W Bush, for example, remained markedly silent on politics during Obama's eight years in office. But Obama's relationship with Trump is different, and his statement made clear that the former president will stay engaged and outspoken on political action, it said.
