CLOSE Many will have you believe that President Obama's 2011 immigration order is the same as President Trump's travel ban. Veuer's Nick Cardona has the story. Buzz60 
 
 A woman yells as she protests President Trump's executive immigration ban at O'Hare International Airport on Jan. 29, 2017 in Chicago. (Photo: Joshua Lott, AFP/Getty Images) 
 
 In defending his executive order banning immigration and travel from certain countries, which has touched off widespread anger and confusion, President Trump compared the order to action taken by the Obama administration in 2011. 
 
 CLOSE In response to the protests across the country against President Donald Trump's travel ban, former President Obama issued his first public statement since leaving office. Veuer's Nick Cardona has that story. Buzz60 
 
 “My policy is similar to what President Obama did in 2011 when he banned visas for refugees from Iraq for six months,” Trump claimed. 
 
 Obama administration officials and fact checkers say the claim is wrong. 
 
 Trump’s order banned visitors from seven Middle Eastern countries — Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Yemen, Sudan and Syria — from coming to the United States for 90 days. The executive order signed Friday also suspended for 120 days all refugees coming to the United States. 
 
 In 2011, the State Department significantly slowed the number of visas it issued to Iraqis in order to review its vetting process. The concern stemmed from the arrests of two Iraqi refugees on terrorism charges in Bowling Green, Kentucky, in 2011. One of the men was linked through fingerprints to an improvised explosive attack in Bayji, Iraq. 
 
 The arrests triggered concerns in the administration and on Capitol Hill and led to a massive review of Iraqi refugees already admitted to the country and more extensive vetting of those applying to immigrate to the United States. The action only applied to refugees from Iraq. 
 
 MORE: 
 
 Obama's office released a statement Monday that, while not directly critical of President Trump, did applaud those protesting a travel ban on visitors from seven Muslim countries. 
 
 "President Obama is heartened by the level of engagement taking place in communities around the country. In his final official speech as President, he spoke about the important role of citizen and how all Americans have a responsibility to be the guardians of our democracy — not just during an election but every day," Obama spokesman Kevin Lewis said in a statement. 
 
 "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 added. 
 
 Jon Finer, an Obama administration official, said the review slowed the pace of Iraqis coming into the United States, but never completely halted it. 
 
 The “flow of Iraqi refugees slowed significantly during the Obama administration’s review,” Finer wrote in an article for Foreign Policy magazine’s website, but “there was no outright ban.” 
 
 But in 2012, the flow of refugees from Iraqi had returned to close to pre-2011 numbers. 
 
 Glenn Kessler, the Washington Post’s fact checker, gave the Trump claim “three Pinocchios,” indicating a “significant factual error.” 
 
 He cited several differences between the Obama administration action and Trump’s recent executive order: 
 
 Obama’s action was in response to a specific threat, it was not a complete halt of refugees from Iraq and it did not apply to all visitors from Iraq entering the United States, he said. 
 
 Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/2jLQwtu ||||| Story highlights Obama's spokesman released a statement on Trump's travel ban 
 
 "The President fundamentally disagrees" with faith-based discrimination, the statement said 
 
 (CNN) Former President Barack Obama criticized President Donald Trump's executive order curbing immigration in a statement on Monday, backing protesters who have taken to the nation's airports to express their displeasure with Trump's action on Friday. 
 
 "The President fundamentally disagrees with the notion of discriminating against individuals because of their faith or religion," said Kevin Lewis, spokesman for the former president, in a statement. 
 
 Frm Pres @BarackObama is heartened by the level of engagement taking place in communities around the country. pic.twitter.com/X5Fk3xRDEX — Kevin Lewis (@KLewis44) January 30, 2017 
 
 Lewis added Obama feels the individuals protesting are "exactly what we expect to see when American values are at stake." 
 
 This is first time Obama, who ceded power to Trump 10 days ago, has criticized the current president, breaking with an unwritten rule that former presidents refrain from criticizing the current White House occupant. 
 
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– It didn't take long for Barack Obama to criticize his successor: The former president issued a statement Monday disagreeing with President Trump's immigration moves and praising those who are protesting them, reports CNN. Spokesman Kevin Lewis said Obama is "heartened by the level of engagement taking place in communities around the country.” (Read the statement in full via tweet.) Before leaving office, Obama pledged to remain silent in regard to Trump's policies, except in cases where he thinks "our core values may be at stake," notes the Washington Post. In Monday's statement, Obama made clear he believes this is now the case, saying that the protests around the country are "exactly what we expect to see when American values are at stake." The former president took issue with Trump asserting that Obama did something similar in 2011 on Iraqi refugees. “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.” (A post at FactCheck.org digs into the comparison and dismisses it as "faulty.")