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Obama is not having the comparisons between his and Trump’s foreign policy

Though he’s only been out of office for a week and a half, President Obama has already had to take a break from his vacation to reject statements that President Donald Trump has based his immigration executive order on policies created under Obama’s administration.

Over the weekend, Trump signed an executive order banning migrants from seven Muslim-majority countries and suspended the admission of refugees. According to Trump, the latter was based on a 2011 motion by the Obama administration to halt the admission of Iraqis to the U.S. after two Iraqi immigrants were found to have ties to terrorist activity in Iraq, though the administration denied the stopping of visas for Iraqis.

Now, Obama is publicly denouncing Trump’s policies via a statement released by his spokesman, Kevin Lewis.

“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,” Lewis said. He also added that the former President is “heartened by the level of engagement taking place in communities and around the country.”

“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,” Lewis said.

Fingers crossed he uses all the best dad puns on his future protest sign.

@shelbielbostedt | sbostedt@redeyechicago.com