The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is condemning President Trump's announced ban on transgender individuals from serving in the military, saying it sends a message that "fosters and encourages prejudice."

"The president's mere announcement of a ban on transgender military service harms all Americans by sending a message that fosters and encourages prejudice, inconsistent with our core national value," the bipartisan federal agency said in an announcement Friday. "If implemented, the ban would further harm Americans, and weaken our defense, by enshrining unequal treatment of Americans based on rank stereotype."

Trump announced via Twitter last month that transgender individuals would no longer be able to serve in the military "in any capacity." Transgender service members were allowed to serve openly under an Obama administration policy implemented last year.

The announcement took members of Congress and top defense officials by surprise, but the Pentagon said last month its policy on transgender individuals won't change until it receives specific policy goals from the White House, which has yet to be sent.

The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, a fact-finding agency created in 1957 to advise the White House and Congress, said it opposed the transgender ban by majority vote, and honored the "thousands of transgender troops" who currently serve and who previously served.

"These military men and women honor our country and defend all its citizens with its service," the commission said.

The group also warned Trump's transgender ban would be a regression for the country back to before President Harry Truman's executive order in 1948 desegregating the military.

"Retrenchment seven decades later egregiously fails to learn from our past," the commission wrote.

Five transgender service members are seeking an injunction on Trump's ban.