During his Tuesday night address to a joint session of Congress, President Trump mentioned a new visa program he recently unveiled that allows wealthy foreign nationals to purchase what he calls a visa "Gold Card." With a price tag of $5 million, the President says it would provide the benefits of a green card and give wealthy foreign nationals a path to citizenship and help raise revenue, too.
Ira Mehlman, media director for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, or FAIR, says the group opposes the idea regardless of the price tag.
"We've always opposed buying your way into the country,” he tells AFN. “That is not how this country is supposed to operate.”
FAIR, an expert on immigration laws and regulations, says the “Gold Card” plan would affect what is known as the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa. That visa program, which dates back to the 1990s, allows foreign nationals to obtain a green card if they invest up to $1 million in a commercial enterprise that creates at least 10 jobs. The program has been accused for years of facilitating fraud and money laundering by foreigners thanks to little oversight by the federal government, FAIR advises in a related article.
FAIR says the idea of the “Gold Card” visa comes from Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who shared the idea with President Trump.
In a comment to NBC News, FAIR president Dan Stein said the visa program like hanging a “for sale” sign on the Statue of Liberty.
“We don’t recall Trump campaigning on selling citizenship to the highest bidder,” Stein said.
FAIR and Stein also insist the “Gold Card” plan would need approval of Congress.
Mehlman tells AFN there are many foreigners who want to become a U.S. citizen, and who can contribute to our country, but they don’t have $5 million to bring with them.
“We should have a merit-based legal immigration policy,” he argues. “That allows us to look objectively at what skills and assets people bring with them and then select legal immigrants."
