[6][16] The first rumors of the creation of a lobbying group on immigration reform were reported by Evelyn Rusli in The Wall Street Journal on March 26, 2013.

[17] On April 4, 2013, Politico obtained a leaked prospectus prepared by Joe Green intended for prospective contributors, with a proposed name of "Human Capital" for the lobbying group.

[20][21][22][23][24] The main goals of FWD.us, as outlined by Zuckerberg in The Washington Post op-ed[1] and described on the FWD.us website[12] are: Zuckerberg's op-ed written at launch[1] as well as the FWD.us website[43] describe the following main aspects of immigration reform that FWD.us will advocate for: A statement released on April 17, 2013, by Joe Green, the president of FWD.us, expressed approval of the preliminary immigration deal announced by the Gang of Eight.

[44] As of 2020, the FWD.us website advocates against the Trump administration's use of "public charge" legislation to deny entry to those likely to become dependent on the government for cash assistance or long-term institutional care.

[48] After Joe Green resigned in favor of Todd Schulte, the organization has shifted more to emphasize Washington DC activities, recognizing its repeated failures to achieve reform and its perceived Silicon Valley elitism, e.g. in condemnations by Jeff Sessions and other lawmakers.

[50] Although some earlier reports, including the leaked prospectus by Politico, had suggested that Bill Gates and Marc Andreessen would be involved with FWD.us,[18] their names did not appear on the FWD.us site at launch.

[56] The leaked prospectus obtained by Politico suggested that the lobbying group was planning to use the tremendous leverage that tech companies and their leaders had in pushing their agenda to the public, similar to the tactics used for the protests against SOPA and PIPA that were coordinated for January 18, 2012.

However, in the same Politico article, Joe Green said that the prospectus used misleading language, and that various tech leaders would, "operating solely as individuals", promote the agenda of the lobbying group.

[32] On March 3, 2014, FWD.us launched a nationwide ad pleading House Republicans to move forward with legislation regarding United States' immigration reform.

[25][63][64] The Politico report also indicated that FWD.us was planning to open another front group called "Council for American Job Growth" designed to appeal to people with progressive political sensibilities.

[72] On June 6, 2013, FWD.us launched tools that enabled US residents to phone their senators and representatives to express views on the immigration bill that would soon be put to a vote.

"[17] An in-depth article in The New Republic likened FWD.us to the Technology CEO Council, founded 24 years before FWD.us by the heads of first-generation computing companies like Dell, Intel, Xerox, and Hewlett-Packard.

[82][84] At least two key members of the group withdrew support from FWD.us, including Elon Musk, a founder of the electric carmaker Tesla and rocket company SpaceX, and David O. Sacks, chief executive of Yammer.

[85] In September 2013, Chris Hughes, one of the earliest employees at Facebook who had played an important role in the Barack Obama 2008 presidential campaign, explained to Erin Griffith in an interview the reasons for his not being involved with FWD.us despite being close to the founders.

The Huffington Post article pointed to record deportation levels under Barack Obama's presidency as well as quoted from a report by the Migration Policy Institute to question the claims made in the advertisements.

[26] Hector Ruiz, former chairman and CEO of Advanced Micro Devices, wrote a piece critical of Mark Zuckerberg arguing that freer migration and a path to citizenship should be extended to all people, not just an elite.

[88] Shaun Raviv in an article for The Atlantic critiqued Mark Zuckerberg and FWD.us for the modesty of their vision, their focus on high-skilled immigration, and their endorsement of border security.