VIDEO: Students say Obama immigration quote racist…when they think it’s from Trump

President Donald Trump announced that he would use ICE to track down and deport illegal aliens who have been convicted of a crime.

The move prompted outrage from many on the Left who accused the practice of being anti-immigrant and unprecedented. 

Proponents of the move pointed out this week that President Barack Obama gave his support to the same policy when he was in office and bragged of deportations of criminals having increased 80 percent during his tenure. 

[RELATED: VIDEO: Students shocked that Obama also sent troops to border]

In 2014, Obama gave an immigration address from the White House, in which he said: 

We are a nation of laws. Undocumented workers broke our immigration laws, and I believe that they must be held accountable, especially those who may be dangerous. That’s why over the past six years deportations of criminals are up 80 percent, and that’s why we’re going to keep focusing on threats to our security. 

Wanting to know what college students would think of this quote and whether Obama was “racist” for wanting to deport illegal aliens convicted of a crime, Campus Reform’s Cabot Phillips headed to Georgetown University to find out. 

After being told the quote came from “a president,” students offered near-universal condemnation for it, as well as the policy of deporting criminals. 

[RELATED: VIDEO: Students hate Trump SOTU quotes, but they’re Obama’s]

“I think that policy comes from a place of white American nationalism,” one said, before another added, “Donald Trump has embraced this rhetoric of racism and xenophobia that’s not beneficial to our country at all.”

“I don’t think that quote stands true,” another stated.

“It’s just really awful.”

After gathering their responses,  Phillips played each student the video of Obama’s speech, showing them he was the president the quote belonged to. 

“I thought it was the Trump administration that said something like that,” one bewildered student said, while another agreed, saying “I didn’t expect it to be Obama… it never occurred to me that it could be him.”

“It’s quite surprising. I thought that was from Trump,” another said.

“My understanding of Obama vs Trump is that Obama was more liberal as far as amnesty… I expected that quote to come from Trump.”

One student said it reminded him how hypocritical many politicians have become: “One person can say something five years ago and next thing you know it doesn’t apply to them anymore and they can now be the morality police for whoever is in office now.”

What did the others have to say? 

Watch the full video to find out.

Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @Cabot_Phillips