Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright criticized President Trump's executive order barring refugees and people from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the U.S. Tuesday.

Albright called the order "anti-American," noting the U.S. was built on an openness to immigration.

"The Statue of Liberty's message is, in fact, one of open arms and welcoming people, and I do think that there are tears in the eyes of the statue at the moment," she said on CNN's "New Day."

"And I do think that the whole aspect of this, in terms of deciding that our safety and security depends on keeping people out rather than welcoming people and understanding what this country is about. So I think it's just flat anti-American."

ADVERTISEMENT

Trump's order, signed Friday, has spurred backlash from many lawmakers. After the order was signed, protests broke out across the country as people called for the U.S. to welcome immigrants and refugees. At airports, demonstrators demanded the release of travelers who had been detained when the new ban went into effect.

The president and his team have defended the measure, denying that the order amounts to a Muslim ban.

But Albright said Tuesday the order has not made America safer.

"I think this was the most unprepared plan that I've ever seen in terms of the lack of coordination with other parts of the government. We're seeing that every hour where various departments were not in fact notified," she said.

"Also, not clear about the unintended consequences of this decision. It has actually created more danger, because there are countries that are now in fact not able to cooperate with us in terms of intelligence sharing or generally mistrust."

Albright said the order has created "chaos" internationally. She added that the order was not "based on facts."

"I think it is one of the worst decisions," she said. "And then blaming a whole religion for this is truly outrageous and un-American."

Albright noted that the ban doesn't apply to countries whose citizens have committed terrorist attacks in the U.S.

"Part of what really bothers me is that this country is based on diversity and respecting diverse opinions. And what is happening is that this administration is making decisions based on the decisions of people that are uninformed about what is going on in the world," she said.

"Disruption is interesting. ... Destruction is bad."