'This is about basic decency': Obama slams Trump's DACA decision in scathing Facebook post

On Tuesday Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the end of the DACA immigration program and Barack Obama can no longer remain silent.

In the wake of Trump's decision to get rid of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) scheme, which protects children of illegal immigrants in the U.S. from being deported, Obama penned a scathing and emotional letter to his Facebook followers, heavily condemning the choice.

"This is about young people who grew up in America – kids who study in our schools, young adults who are starting careers, patriots who pledge allegiance to our flag. These Dreamers are Americans in their hearts, in their minds, in every single way but one: on paper," the former president wrote, recalling the purpose of the program his administration introduced back in 2012.

"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 went on in the lengthy statement.

Obama closed his call to action by stating his belief that DACA is ultimately about "basic decency."

"This is about whether we are a people who kick hopeful young strivers out of America, or whether we treat them the way we’d want our own kids to be treated. It’s about who we are as a people – and who we want to be," he wrote.

During his final press conference back in Jan. Obama explained that he would speak out if he felt "efforts to round up kids who have grown up here and for all practical purposes are American kids, and send them someplace else, when they love this country" were in place.

"They are our kids’ friends and their classmates, and are now entering into community colleges or in some cases serving in our military, that the notion that we would just arbitrarily or because of politics punish those kids, when they didn’t do anything wrong themselves," he said, "I think would be something that would merit me speaking out."

Obama kept his word, and following his public response many praised his words and thanked him.

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In the days leading up to the decision, people across the country — including psychologists and tech leaders including CEOs at Google, Amazon, Lyft, and Twitter — pleaded for Trump to consider the nearly nearly 800,000 people brought to the U.S. by immigrants who would be negatively impacted by the lack of protection DACA offered.

Many posted messages of hope and support on Twitter, and Dreamers themselves began to share their personal experiences.

Following Sessions' announcement other prominent voices such as Mark Zuckerberg — who shared his own Facebook message calling this "a sad day for our country" — also spoke out.