Trump critic who fled El Salvador as a teen named West Virginia Roman Catholic bishop

West Virginia's next Catholic bishop was born in El Salvador and has been critical of President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown.

Pope Leo XIV announced the appointment of the Most Rev. Evelio Menjivar-Ayala to head the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston.

He will lead the Catholic population in one of the nation's least racially diverse states.

Menjivar-Ayala fled El Salvador’s civil war as a teen.

In an interview last year, he said he eventually crossed illegally into the United States in 1990.

But within a few weeks he gained humanitarian protection, later was granted a visa as a religious worker, and became a U.S. citizen two decades ago.