Bernie Sanders has condemned Donald Trump’s decision to scrap the “Dreamers” programme, calling it the “ugliest and most cruel decision made by a president of the US in the modern history of this country”.

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) programme, introduced by president Barack Obama, shields young undocumented immigrants from deportation who were taken to America as children.

There are around 800,000 young men and women protected by DACA, known as “Dreamers”, who have qualified for the programme by being able to prove they arrived in the country before the age of 16, had been residents for several years and had never committed a crime.

Speaking in a video posted on Twitter, Democratic Senator Mr Sanders hit out at the President’s decision to rescind the programme, which will take effect in six months’ time, and called on Congress to rally the American people to help reverse the decision.

“The idea that you would take away the legal status of some 800,000 young people who have known no home other than the United States – young people who today have good jobs, [are] productive members of the economy, young people who are in school, young people who are serving in the military, and take away their legal status, and put them in a position where they could be deported and thrown out of the only country that they can remember,” he said in the video.

“Our job now in Congress is to move as quickly as we possibly can to rally the American people and to pass legislation repealing Trump’s horrific decision. I hope the American people will stand with us as we go forward in protecting these 800,000 young people.”

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Under the phase-out plan announced by Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security has halted the acceptance of new applications under DACA.

People with permits set to expire between now and March 5, 2018, will be able to re-apply as long as their applications are submitted by 5 October. Existing permits will remain in effect, and applications already in the pipeline will be processed.

Mr Trump ran his campaign as an immigration hardliner, labelling DACA as illegal “amnesty” and pledging to repeal it immediately, but after the election he expressed sympathy for the “Dreamers”. He has now left it to Congress to address their plight.

On Tuesday night, Mr Trump tweeted: “Congress now has 6 months to legalise DACA (something the Obama Administration was unable to do). If they can’t, I will revisit this issue!”

Arizona Senator John McCain said the president was taking “the wrong approach”.

“The federal government has a responsibility to defend and secure our borders, but we must do so in a way that upholds all that is decent and exceptional about our nation,” he said.

Mr Obama, who brought in the programme by executive order in 2012 when it became clear Congress would not act to address the young immigrants' plight in legislation that was dubbed the “Dream Act”, slammed the president’s decision as “cruel” and “self-defeating”.

“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,” Mr Obama wrote on Facebook. “These Dreamers are Americans in their hearts, in their minds, in every single way but one: on paper.

“To target these young people is wrong - because they have done nothing wrong,” he added.