SAN DIEGO _ President Donald Trump's executive order temporarily closing the U.S. to travelers and refugees from seven Middle Eastern countries sparked condemnation from San Diego Bishop Robert McElroy, who called the act "shameful" in a written statement.
"This week," wrote the bishop, head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego, "the Statue of Liberty lowered its torch in a presidential action which repudiates our national heritage and ignores the reality that Our Lord and the Holy Family were themselves Middle Eastern refugees fleeing government oppression."
Trump's executive order blocks all refugees entering the United States for 120 days and indefinitely stops Syrian refugees. It also prohibits for 90 days the issuance of visas to people from Syria, Iran, Iraq, Somalia, Libya, Sudan and Yemen. All of those nations have predominantly Muslim populations.
McElroy responded with a statement Sunday evening, noting the United States' "historic identity" as a haven for refugees. The president's executive order, he wrote, is "rooted in xenophobia and religious prejudice" instead of a careful consideration of national security.
"This week is just such a shameful moment of abandonment for the United States," he wrote.
The local diocese includes roughly 1.3 million Catholics and 98 parishes in San Diego and Imperial counties.
