WASHINGTON, DC – FWD.us President Todd Schulte issued the following statement today on President Trump’s executive order severely restricting immigration:

“Slashing legal immigration in response to a public health crisis is as ridiculous as it is dangerous. Let’s be honest: this has nothing to do with public health or economic well-being during the COVID-19 crisis. This executive order is about two things: first, this is a political act to demagogue and distract from President Trump’s abysmal handling of the COVID-19 crisis, including a lack of testing, ahead of the election. Second, it is a policy effort by hardliners to exploit this crisis to enact their awful, decades-old wish list to slash immigration radically.

“This policy will do long-term damage to our economic stability, recovery, and growth, particularly as the U.S. economy attempts to rebuild from the devastation of the COVID-19 crisis – and it will cruelly separate thousands of families, keeping loved ones apart for absolutely no reason. Suspending immigration will inflict serious harm on U.S. companies, all workers, and the American economy as a whole by blocking immigrant entrepreneurs and job creators, hurting tax revenues, and driving down our national GDP. When millions of Americans will be looking for work, shutting out individuals who create American jobs makes no sense and runs counterproductive to what elected leaders should be focusing on.

“The future of our nation’s economic security and growth stems from the contributions of immigrant entrepreneurs and laborers — not from scapegoating the very population that for centuries has been a cornerstone of our country’s economic engine.”