Mo Farah Comments on President Donald Trump's Executive Order on Immigration Ban

Mo Farah, Great Britain's four-time Olympic gold-medalist distance runner, criticized United States President Donald Trump's controversial immigration ban Sunday.

Ben Rumsby of the Telegraph shared Farah's statement:

Farah, 33, was born in Somalia but now lives in Oregon.

On Friday, President Trump signed an executive order halting the admission of refugees into the United States from Syria, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. The order also established that Christians and refugees from other religions hailing from Muslim nations would be given preference for admittance to the United States over Muslim refugees.

A number of athletes from around the world joined Farah in condemning the executive order, including former NBA players Steve Nash and Nazr Mohammed:

Leagues like the NBA may find themselves in a difficult position if Trump's executive order survives legal challenges. The NBA has already contacted the State Department to determine how its players born in nations listed in the order will be affected, per Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical.

Thus far, NBA players have not been affected. Thon Maker, who was born in Sudan, was able to return to the United States from a road game in Toronto because he has an Australian passport, per Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today.

But given the international outreach of many of the biggest sports leagues in the United States, it's unclear how the executive order—which enacted an indefinite ban for Syrian refugees, a 120-day ban for any refugee and a 90-day ban for the predominantly Muslim nations listed above—will affect those outreach efforts if the executive order survives legal challenges or is extended.