It took Obama ten days since he departed the White House one final time to break his promise that he would "stay on the sidelines" regarding Trump's policies...

Earnest says Pres Obama wants to afford his successor the same customs and courtesies he received from Pres GWBush - staying on sidelines. — Mark Knoller (@markknoller) January 4, 2017

... and in his first public statement, the former president the charge that the Trump administration had based his immigration executive order on a policy adopted by his own administration, and endorsed the protests that have been taking place across the country in response to the new restrictions.

Kevin Lewis, Obama's spokesman, said rejected Trump's insistence that the decision to temporarily halt refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries and stop all Syrian refugee resettlement in America is similar to a 2011 decision by Obama. "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."

As a reminder, over the past 24 hours, Trump has compared his actions to Obama's 2011 moves to restrict entries from Iraq after two Iraqis were arrested in Kentucky on terrorism charges.

Former Obama administration officials have denied that there was ever a halt to the awarding of visas to Iraqis, though the processing of these applications slowed after they were subject to more intense scrutiny.

Obama's decision to step back into the public light comes just 10 days after he left office. He joins the chorus of Democrats and mostly tech CEOs criticizing Trump for his decision to temporarily halt refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries and stop all Syrian refugee resettlement in America.

Obama also encouraged ongoing protests against Trump's immigration policies: "President Obama is heartened by the level of engagement taking place in communities around the country. In his final official 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," Lewis said.

"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."

As The Hill notes, former presidents often give their replacements a wide berth in office, rarely weighing in to criticize their actions out of respect for the office. While Obama served as a vocal critic to Trump on the campaign trail, he told reporters during a trip to Peru last November that he wanted to give Trump the chance to lead without Obama "popping off."

But Obama added that he wouldn't unilaterally remain quiet, and today he held true to that loophole.



“As an American citizen who cares deeply about our country, if there are issues that have less to do with the specifics of some legislative proposal or battle, but go to core questions about our values and our ideals, and if I think that it's necessary or helpful for me to defend those ideals, then I'll examine it when it comes,” Obama said.

The full statement from Kevin Lewis, spokesperson to Former President Barack Obama, is below: