WASHINGTON, DC – FWD.us President Todd Schulte issued the following statement today in response to the introduction of the Secure and Succeed Act:

“Providing a pathway for Dreamers to earn citizenship is vital, but the Secure and Succeed Act takes the wrong approach. This legislation cuts American legal immigration levels by nearly 50% over the long term — the biggest cuts in nearly a century — and is designed to substantially increase deportations at a time when arrests of undocumented individuals without a prior criminal record nearly tripled last year.

Congress has the opportunity to make substantial increases in border security funding, and should take the opportunity to do so without making large-scale and harmful cuts to legal immigration levels. Dreamers are teachers, nurses, and engineers, and they are doing their jobs every day in the face of this urgent crisis. It is time for Congress to step up and do theirs. 86% of Americans are behind them; inaction is not an option.

FWD.us opposes the Secure and Succeed Act.”