WASHINGTON, DC – FWD.us President Todd Schulte issued the following statement on the results of the 2018 Midterm Elections:

“The Trump Administration tried to hold onto a Republican House by spending the last three weeks trying make the caravan and their hardline immigration policies the centerpiece of their midterm election strategy – but tonight, the American public rejected this. Why? Because they view the last two years of this Administration’s immigration policies as prioritizing DACA repeal and family separation, and the last few weeks as politically motivated. This strategy failed, with the House flipping, fueled by a massive rejection of these policies in the suburbs.

“Moreover, tonight was a STUNNING rebuke for the leaders of the hardline, anti-immigrant movement, with their champions losing badly. Hardline anti-immigrant ideologues have promised for more than two decades that they would win elections if they finally adopted their restrictionist policies, but tonight’s results were a complete disaster for many of the most critical and long-time leaders of the anti-immigrant movement. A few key races:

• Dave Brat – Congressman Dave Brat lost in a conservative congressional district that hasn’t even had a competitive general election in modern political history.
• Kris Kobach – Kris Kobach lost in deep-red Kansas. By a lot. Perhaps no one has a worse record on immigration policies than Kris Kobach. Thank you Kansas.
• Lou Barletta – Lou Barletta has a decades-long history in the anti-immigrant movement, first as a mayor and now as a Congressman. He turned a swing state Senate race, in a state Trump won, into a resounding defeat.

“The very voters who were critical to holding the majority were those most offended by policies like family separation and DACA repeal. The American public understood what was happening in the past few weeks, and this effort to stoke fear completely backfired.

“We hope that tonight’s results send a crystal clear message to elected officials to listen to their constituents, support Dreamers with a permanent and bipartisan solution, and reject anti-immigrant policies that hurt communities across the country. FWD.us will continue to work with members on both sides of the aisle to provide actual bipartisan solutions on immigration. Congress, led by a new Democratic House majority, should take this clear mandate and begin by passing a permanent solution for Dreamers.”