Trump Gold Card isn't the worst idea
Sometimes the never-ending fount of unthinking goo turns out a useful thought
In the whirlwind of garbage that whirls around the White House these days like the accretion disk of a massive black hole, sometimes an idea that’s not altogether terrible flies in. The “Trump Gold Card” might be one of those.
The president said he wants to replace the existing EB-5 visa program, which Congress created in 1990, with a “Trump Gold Card.” Instead of a complicated system that is supposed to allow foreign investors to create jobs in the U.S., a more simple plan of selling Green Cards would replace it. About 8,000 foreigners were granted visas using the EB-5 in the latest year cited, which was 2022.
The old program was rife for pork barrel shenanigans. A foreign investor needed to commit $1,050,000 in an American company, which was reduced to $800,000 if the investment was in a Targeted Employment Area (TEA). That’s about the investment required to open a couple of quickie marts with gas pumps. In 2022, the responsibility for designating TEAs passed from individual states to the Department of Homeland Security. The TEA is not used in any other federal program. It’s bespoke to the EB-5. Also, EB-5 applicants have to show their investment would create at least 10 jobs in the U.S.
Trump’s plan eliminates the whole thing. No tiered investment, no TEAs, no application justifying 10 jobs. Just pay the U.S. government $5 million in real money, and you get a Trump Gold Card. That’s right, buy your way into America.
If there’s anything that’s closer to the American Way, going back to the Founders of this nation, the Trump Gold Card is close to that mark. In the old days, the government would entice foreign investors by promising land. Trump is taking the money and giving a possible path to citizenship. If wealthy foreigners can pay lawyers, coyotes, and consultants to make their way here, why not just pay us directly?
Alternatively, just get rid of the EB-5. I’d be okay with that, because bespoke programs with special designations and staff to figure out what is a TEA and what’s not is a recipe for corruption (even if it’s unintentional corruption). And giving certain individuals what amounts to a Green Card just for opening a couple of quickie marts and employing their family, then tracking to see if it wasn’t a sham, is not the best use of government resources.
The Trump Gold Card is cheap and easy. Set up a website, verify identity, accept the money, and boom, Gold Card, complete with Trump’s photo, will be on the way in 6-8 weeks. Buy two and they’ll throw in free shipping. I think Trump should appoint the MyPillow guy, Mike Lindell, to sell this thing in infomercials running on foreign TV outlets.
Look at it this way: selling 20,000 Trump Gold Cards will bring in $100 billion to the U.S. Treasury. Cold hard cash. Very little overhead. There may be tax implications, but people who can afford a $5 million payout to live in America have other reasons to live here than avoiding taxes. As Trump said about the program, “Hey, I know some Russian oligarchs that are very nice people.”
And $100 billion, just 20,000 takers, would fund the entire State Department, plus either the Department of Energy, Department of Justice, or the total budget for the Departments of the Interior, Commerce, and Treasury. It could even make USAID great again.
Again, I’m not saying there’s no down side. But on first look, the Trump Gold Card—selling the thing that President Joe Biden was giving away for free, to people who paid coyotes and foreign airlines to get here, except done legally, is not the worst idea. And it looks like it’s going to happen.
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I think a key phrase is “Congress created.”
$5 million seems WAY too cheap. Bump that up to $100 million, and you have my attention.