Obama Applauds Supreme Court DACA Decision Eight Years After Policy Began

Former President Barack Obama applauded the Supreme Court's announcement Thursday that it had voted to block President Donald Trump's administration from ending protections for undocumented immigrants who were brought into the country during childhood.

The 5-4 decision was announced eight years and three days after Obama announced the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which gave qualifying immigrants a path to obtain work permits and postpone deportation.

"Eight years ago this week, we protected young people who were raised as part of our American family from deportation," Obama said on Twitter. "Today, I'm happy for them, their families, and all of us."

Five years after DACA was established, the Trump administration began efforts to shut it down, with former Attorney General Jeff Sessions saying at the time it had been created "without proper authority."

The shutdown efforts quickly became a point of dispute in courts across the country as individuals tested the move's legality.

In Thursday's decision, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the opinion, siding with the court's four liberal-leaning justices. Although Roberts said it was not the court's responsibility to "decide whether DACA or its rescission are sound policies," he said the Department of Homeland Security's efforts to throw DACA out were "arbitrary and capricious."

Trump was quick to voice his frustration with the Court's decision through a string of tweets. "Do you get the impression the Supreme Court doesn't like me?" he asked in one, while calling the Court's recent decisions "horrible" and "politically charged" in another.

The president also retweeted a link to Associate Justice Clarence Thomas' dissenting opinion, in which Thomas said the Court's ruling was its way of dodging "a politically controversial but legally correct decision" made by the Trump administration.

"In doing so, [the Supreme Court] has given the green light for future political battles to be fought in this Court rather than where they rightfully belong—the political branches," Thomas wrote.

The Court's decision on the politically charged DACA program also led Trump and Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, to use the news as a rallying cry for their supporters. While Biden's campaign responded by sending out a vow to make DACA permanent, Trump encouraged his followers on Twitter to "Vote Trump 2020."

Obama ended his statement on the DACA decision with a push of support for Biden and Democrats running for Congress in November.

"We have to move forward and elect @JoeBiden and a Democratic Congress that does its job, protects DREAMers, and finally creates a system that's truly worthy of this nation and immigrants once and for all," Obama tweeted.

Obama's office did not respond to Newsweek's request for further comment before publication.

This story has been updated with additional information and background.