Pope Leo’s Pick for West Virginia Bishop Came to US Illegally From El Salvador

AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino

Pope Leo XIV’s pick for bishop of West Virginia was a Salvadoran man who entered the country as an illegal immigrant when he was just a teenager.

On Friday, Pope Leo named Evelio Menijar-Ayala as the state’s only Catholic bishop. News of the appointment was announced by reporter Christopher Hale, who runs the Substack “Letters from Leo.”

Hale added:

As a teenager, he made three attempts to enter the United States illegally.

He finally arrived in California in 1990, having been smuggled in the trunk of a car with his brother over the border crossing between Tijuana and San Diego.

Over the next several years, Menjivar-Ayala worked janitorial and construction jobs in California before deciding to become a priest.

A 2024 report from Catholic Standard added more context to Menjivar-Ayala’s difficult journey to get into the U.S. and eventually earn citizenship, saying:

The future bishop had arrived in the United States at the age of 18 as an undocumented immigrant, and after applying for asylum and gaining a work permit and later a green card, he became a U.S. citizen in 2006. In his first job, he worked as a receptionist at a law firm in Los Angeles. For the first time, he received a paycheck for his work, and like many immigrants, he began sending money back home to El Salvador to help his family there.

The pick is notable given the President Donald Trump’s approach to immigration enforcement. While his administration has promised mass deportations, Pope Leo has reportedly voiced support for immigrants. On America’s 250th birthday this July, for example, the Pope will not be in the U.S. and will instead visit an island in the Mediterranean that’s known as a passage for North African immigrants heading into Europe.

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