Mayor Edwin M. Lee issued this statement on the Executive Order banning immigration from seven Muslim countries:

“I commend the judge that granted the emergency stay today, allowing Muslim immigrants with valid visas to enter the United States.

As the son of Chinese immigrants, I am disgusted by the President’s Executive Order to target the Muslim community and ban immigrants from entering the United States. 

Our country was built by immigrants in search of religious freedom and a life free of persecution and violence. These actions are a direct betrayal of those American values. 

We cannot turn our backs on those looking for a better, safer life for themselves and their children. Now is the time to be firm in our values of inclusion, compassion and liberty for all. In San Francisco, we stand shoulder to shoulder with our Muslim and immigrant communities and promise to continue to lift the lamp for all those in search of a better life.”