New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) blasted President Trump on Tuesday after the administration formally announced that it would begin phasing out the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program with a six-month delay.

The liberal mayor went after Trump on Twitter minutes after Attorney General Jeff Sessions Jefferson (Jeff) Beauregard SessionsTrump's policies on refugees are as simple as ABCs Ocasio-Cortez, Velázquez call for convention to decide Puerto Rico status White House officials voted by show of hands on 2018 family separations: report MORE announced that the administration would rescind the Obama-era program. De Blasio warned Trump that New York would "fight" to protect the thousands of DACA recipients who live in the city.

"We warned you not to threaten our neighbors, @realDonaldTrump," de Blasio wrote.

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"New York City will fight to defend our Dreamers," he added, using a term commonly used to refer to recipients of DACA.



De Blasio's comment comes just a day after he threatened court action if Trump ended the program, which defers deportation for nearly 800,000 undocumented immigrants across the country who were brought to the U.S. as minors and allows them to apply for work visas.

"We will go to the courts and to Congress to fight for thousands of New York Dreamers. Where you were born doesn’t matter. You are not alone," de Blasio tweeted Monday.

"We won’t take this lying down. @realDonaldTrump must remember where he comes from. People of all nations make NYC the best city on earth."

We won’t take this lying down. @realDonaldTrump must remember where he comes from. People of all nations make NYC the best city on earth. — Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) September 4, 2017

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) and Attorney General Eric Schneiderman (D) on Monday also threatened to sue if Trump moved to end the DACA program.

On Tuesday, Sessions announced that the Trump administration would phase out the policy over the next six months, declaring the Obama administration's action "unconstitutional."

"The program known as DACA that was effectuated under the Obama administration is being rescinded," Sessions said.

"This will enable [the Department of Homeland Security] to conduct an orderly change and fulfill the desire of this administration to create a time period for Congress to act — should it so choose. We firmly believe this is the responsible path," he added.