WASHINGTON, DC – FWD.us President Todd Schulte issued the following statement today on the nomination of Ronald Mortensen as Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration:

“Especially given the news of the last few days and the separation of tiny babies from their parents, it is beyond troubling that people like Ronald Mortensen who have spent their careers spreading falsehoods on immigrants, and who have close ties to groups founded and funded by the eugenics movement, keep being appointed to these critical government jobs. The Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration in particular is involved in decisions to protect and ease the suffering of refugees and conflict victims — and, because of this enormous responsibility, people need to examine Mortensen’s incredibly disturbing record very closely. His nomination is part of a very deliberate policy agenda by this Administration to radically restrict legal immigration and deter others from immigrating to the United States. Mortensen’s nomination will come before the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee. We respectfully call on Senators Corker, Menendez, Gardner, Cardin, Portman, and all Members on both sides of the aisle to thoroughly examine Mortensen’s record and vote ‘no’ on his nomination. The Senate’s job is to advise and consent on key nominations, and it’s clear from Mortensen’s track record that he is unfit to serve in government.”

Mortensen is a current fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), an anti-immigrant policy center and hate group that advocates for removing as many immigrants from the U.S. as possible and reducing legal immigration as much as possible. CIS, which was founded and funded by avowed eugenicist and white nationalist John Tanton (author of The Case for Passive Eugenics), manipulates data to create misleading evidence in support of their policy goals. Additionally, the group regularly circulates white nationalist authors and their content, and in the last decade has done so more than 2,000 times.