Shakeup at Zuckerberg immigration group

There has been a big change at the top of FWD.us, the immigration reform advocacy group backed by Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg and other tech icons.

Joe Green, the group’s former president, resigned on Friday and was immediately replaced by Executive Director Todd Schulte, the former chief of staff at the super-PAC Priorities USA, which backed President Obama in his 2012 reelection race.

{mosads}“While FWD.us has achieved important milestones in the fight to reform immigration laws, Joe and the Board agreed a change in leadership was necessary,” the group said in a blog post.

“We’re going to stay focused on our mission of mobilizing the tech community in support of policies that keep the American Dream achievable in the 21st century, starting with comprehensive immigration reform,” it added.

The move comes after a series of setbacks for the organization, which also counts Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Napster co-founder Sean Parker among its prominent backers.

Despite spending millions to urge lawmakers to back immigration reform, the effort is effectively dead on Capitol Hill, and has no signs of coming back to life any time soon.

As part of its push, FWD.us engaged in some relatively controversial tactics, such as running ads praising lawmakers for their support of the Keystone XL pipeline, which alienated the organization from progressive activists who oppose the pipeline yet were critical partners in the effort to change the country’s immigration laws.