Chicago’s Archbishop Calls President Trump’s Immigration Order ‘a Dark Moment in U.S. History’

Blase J. Cupich, the Archbishop of Chicago, has come out against Donald Trump’s executive order that bans immigrants from seven predominately Muslim countries, as well as prohibiting Syrian refugees indefinitely.

Cupich posted a statement to the Archdiocese of Chicago’s website Sunday, writing that “This weekend proved to be a dark moment in U.S. history.”

He continued:

“The executive order to turn away refugees and to close our nation to those, particularly Muslims, fleeing violence, oppression and persecution is contrary to both Catholic and American values. Have we not repeated the disastrous decisions of those in the past who turned away other people fleeing violence, leaving certain ethnicities and religions marginalized and excluded?”

The seven countries included in the ban are not the home country of “15 of the 19 September 11 hijackers,” the Archbishop noted — an aspect of the executive order Cupich called “ironic.”

“The world is watching as we abandon our commitments to American values,” he wrote. “These actions give aid and comfort to those who would destroy our way of life. They lower our estimation in the eyes of the many peoples who want to know America as a defender of human rights and religious liberty, not a nation that targets religious populations and then shuts its doors on them.”

Cupich called for hope and solidarity, writing that “It is time to put aside fear and join together to recover who we are and what we represent to a world.”

Read the full statement here.