Karl Rove blasted former President Barack Obama for criticizing President Donald Trump's decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.
"I believe that 'Dreamers'— foreign-born men and women, age 15 to 36, brought here illegally when they were children — should be allowed to stay in America, the only country most of them remember," Rove, the one-time senior adviser to President George W. Bush, said in a column published in The Wall Street Journal.
"That's why I find President Obama's recent attack on President Trump so deplorable."
He noted the administration announced it was ending the program, that "temporarily shelters 'Dreamers' from deportation, but Trump gave Congress six months to come up with a legislative solution.
"Shortly afterward Mr. Obama called the decision "cruel," "self-defeating" and "contrary to our spirit," Rove said.
"This needlessly inflamed the situation, making a solution harder to achieve. Besides, Mr. Obama knows that federal courts appeared ready to strike down DACA on the ground that suspending immigration laws for a whole class of people is unconstitutional."
Rove maintained Obama "could have been constructive."
"He could have said that he disagreed with ending DACA, but understood the legal concerns," Rove said. "Mr. Obama then could have encouraged lawmakers to pass legislation to settle the issue, playing off Mr. Trump's comment that 'hopefully now Congress will be able to help.' Instead Mr. Obama decided to scorch his successor."
And, Rove said, it does not help to raise passions like Obama did.
"In the end, Republicans have the most to lose, which may explain why Mr. Obama chose to speak up," he said. "Democrats understand voters will blame the GOP if Congress fails to act, and they know Republican leaders will be hard-pressed to keep their fractious caucuses together."
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