By 
In a letter to President Donald Trump on May 7, first published by Politico, four U.S. Senators have argued for the suspension of several immigration programs including the EB-5 Program.
The senators, Tom Cotton, Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, and Chuck Grassley focus primarily on the suspension of the H-1B, H-2B and OTP programs, but they also argue for the suspension of the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program. Throughout the 2.5 page letter, the senators argue that the H-1B, H-2B and OTP programs would take away jobs needed for U.S. workers who were made unemployed due to CoronaVirus shutdowns. Near the end of the letter, the four Senators add that they urge President Trump to remove the EB-5 Program’s exemption from the Presidential Proclamation issued on April 27th. The senators call the EB-5 “plagued by scandal and fraud”, and a “pay for citizenship scheme”. Here’s why they’re wrong.
Fast Facts About EB-5:
To the senators’ first point about EB-5 and fraud:
The EB-5 Program is not perfect, but it has undergone significant reforms over the last several months to address several concerns. The Immigrant Investor Program Office set up new training, added more personnel, and increased inter-agency coordination to reduce fraud and strengthen national security.
Additionally, the EB-5 Modernization Regulation, which went into effect late last year, introduced changes to targeted employment areas to better ensure that EB-5 investments go to rural or high unemployment areas as Congress originally intended. The EB-5 Program is a 30-year old program that has had thousands of projects and many more thousands of investors, but oftentimes, a few bad story lines stick.
To the senators’ second claim about EB-5 investors being able to “buy citizenship”:
The EB-5 Program does not sell green cards. Foreign investors must make “at-risk” investments and there have been a significant number of well-reported cases where EB-5 investors have lost some or all of their investment. Investors must demonstrate that their investment created 10 full-time jobs in the U.S., prior to receiving a permanent green card. According to IIUSA, since 2008, more than $37 billion of foreign direct investment has flowed into the U.S. as a direct result of EB-5 investment. After the 2008 recession, EB-5 proved to be a vital source of low-interest capital investment to developers who struggled to find traditional lending options. The post-recession building boom in the U.S. had been funded, in large part, by foreign nationals investing through the EB-5 program.
Applying for EB-5 is a rigorous process:
Each EB-5 applicant must first rigorously demonstrate that their investment funds came from a lawful source, and then they must further demonstrate that their investments will create 10 full-time jobs for U.S. workers, before they can receive a green card. EB-5 investors are coming to the U.S., investing in U.S. real estate and the construction industry and immediately creating jobs in the U.S. all at no cost to the U.S. taxpayer.
EB-5 is a brain drain for other countries:
Through the EB-5 program, the U.S. has encouraged the brightest and most successful foreign nationals to sell their assets and invest that capital into the U.S. EB-5 is an asset drain and a brain drain for other countries.
In conclusion:
Instead of trying to suspend the program, senators should be working with the EB-5 industry on fixing the visa backlog. Fixing the EB-5 backlog would instantly revitalize the program and EB-5 investment would thrive. As we enter uncertain times due to COVID-19, the EB-5 Program could prove to be vitally important to helping boost the U.S. economy just as it did after the 2008 recession.
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