Story highlights Trump on Tuesday announced an end to DACA

The commission called ending DACA a "a step backward for our country"

Washington (CNN) The federal agency charged with advising the government on civil rights on Friday criticized President Donald Trump's decisions to pardon former Sheriff Joe Arpaio and end DACA.

In strong statements, the US Commission on Civil Rights announced a majority of its members had voted to condemn both actions. The agency is an independent and bipartisan federal body that advises the President and Congress on civil rights matters, according to its mission statement.

Trump on Tuesday announced an end to DACA, the Obama-era Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals policy that protects young undocumented immigrants brought to the US as children from deportation. His pardon for Arpaio, a former Arizona sheriff who was found in contempt of court for flouting court rulings ordering him to stop arresting suspected illegal immigrants without further cause, came late last month.

The commission strongly condemned both of those actions in statements issued Friday -- in the case of Arpaio striking directly at Trump's message of being a law-and-order focused President.

"The pardon of Mr. Arpaio, who repeatedly violated the civil rights of Latino residents of Maricopa County, Arizona and also violated a federal court order to desist from violating those civil rights, flouts the rule of law," the commission said.

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