Obama says Trump immigration move 'cruel,' not 'required legally'

Former U.S. President Barack Obama in Montreal, Quebec, Canada June 6, 2017. REUTERS/Dario Ayala

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former President Barack Obama said on Tuesday the Trump administration's decision to rescind a programme Obama instituted to protect from deportation illegal immigrants who were brought to the United States as children was "cruel," "self-defeating" and "wrong." "Let's be clear: the action taken today isn't required legally," Obama said in a post on Facebook. "It's a political decision, and a moral question." "Whatever concerns or complaints Americans may have about immigration in general, we shouldn't threaten the future of this group of young people who are here through no fault of their own, who pose no threat, who are not taking away anything from the rest of us," he wrote. (Reporting by Makini Brice; Writing by David Alexander; Editing by Eric Beech)