DNC Chair Tom Perez released the following statement after President Trump said on Twitter he would suspend immigration into the United States in an attempt to move the conversation away from his failures on the coronavirus and help his reelection:

“Donald Trump can’t go five minutes without blaming someone else for his failures. First it was Obama and Nancy Pelosi. Now it’s immigrants. But here’s the truth: Donald Trump won’t take responsibility for making this crisis worse than it had to be, costing people their jobs, their savings, and even their lives. He ignored the warnings of experts, he failed to prepare, and he spread lie after lie. Now that he’s seen the suffering and destruction caused by his lack of leadership, he needs a scapegoat. And immigrants have always been a favorite target of weak and xenophobic men like Donald Trump.

“But Democrats will not stand idly by while this president tries to use bigotry as a shield for his own incompetence. Right this minute, countless immigrants across the country are risking their lives to keep our country safe – in hospitals and grocery stores, at nursing homes and in our nation’s uniform. Democrats know that immigrants make our nation stronger, and we will not compromise our values of diversity and compassion to accommodate Donald Trump’s crisis PR strategy.”