eb-5

Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley is throwing a flag on the stealth push by technology investors to expand the unregulated U.S.-India outsourcing economy.

The House will vote Tuesday on a bill that would give wealthy Chinese lenders a fast-track to American green cards and citizenship. 

House and Senate Republicans developed a consensus reform of the EB-5 visa-buying program — but two New York lobbying groups are using Democratic allies to block the reform, says Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The scandal-plagued EB-5 visa, which allows foreign investors and their families to essentially buy U.S. citizenship, is continuing to be funded by the Republican-controlled Congress.

Five companies involved in Vermont’s Jay Peak ski and water park development reached a $225,000 settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Wednesday as part of the ongoing EB-5 “golden visa” fraud case against the development’s owner, according to a report by Law 360.

Prosecutors are reportedly looking into a $285 million loan made by Deutsche Bank to Jared Kushner’s family real estate business.

Jared Kushner’s family business has reportedly been subpoenaed by New York federal prosecutors over its use of an investment-for-immigration program, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

The huge infrastructure project in question is the approximately 2,000-mile-long wall along the United States’ southern border with Mexico. This project has been estimated to cost somewhere between $10-20 billion. While the project is supported by many Americans, it’s not a burden the American taxpayer is going to want to shoulder, or a project we should financially burden our ally and neighbor with.

The outgoing Obama administration has raised the upfront investment required to get citizenship via the fraud-wracked EB-5 visa program from $500,000 to $1.35 million.

Bloomberg reported Monday that Trump Bay Street, a 50-story apartment complex being built in Jersey City, is being funded through a controversial immigration program known as EB-5, in which foreigners receive a two-year visa in exchange for investing at least $500,000 in the U.S., with enhanced opportunities for permanent residency.