Secretary of State Marco Rubio has recently taken to social media, broadly proclaiming
“American citizenship is not for sale”, though his claim has been taken to task in lieu of a
recent administration executive order.
Last Wednesday, Rubio posted on X that a new state department task force is focused on
putting a stop to so-called birth tourism.
In the post, he accused foreign nationals of exploiting immigration laws by traveling to the
country to give birth, and secure citizenship for their children.
“The State Department established a Birth Tourism Prevention Task Force to review the
activity of visa holders, dismantle illegal birth tourism networks, and put an end to this
heinous abuse of our nations laws,” wrote Rubio.
He alluded to elaborate “birth tourism rings”, in which foreigners were coached to
manipulate the visa system, have travel and housing arranged for them, and even received
forged documents.
“The State Department will use all available tools to dismantle birth tourism networks and
defend the integrity of U.S. citizenship,” Rubio continued in his post.
He said the task force has already invoked more than 600 visas in one month.
However, critics have been quick to point out a recent Trump administration executive
order that they claim runs contradictory to Rubio’s proclamation: the Trump Gold Card.
Last December, President Trump launched the Gold Card visa program, promising U.S.
residency in record time for applicants able to pay $1 million.
Touted as an “investment visa” that would raise billions in revenue and attract tens of
thousands of overseas millionaires and billionaires, the program faced legal challenges
right out of the gate. And it has struggled to reach the lofty goals the administration claimed
it would.
Aside from the $1 million price tag, applicants must pay a $15,000 processing fee to the
Department of Homeland Security. In December, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick
predicted that the government would issue 80,000 Gold Cards and generate more than
$100 billion in revenue.
This past May, the Department of Homeland Security revealed in a legal filing that only 338
people had, at that time, submitted requests for a Gold Card. And only 165 people had paid
the $15,000 processing fee.
A key selling point of the program was the record time in which visas would be granted. But
legal challenges have called the fast pass process into question.
The court filing issued by the DHS claimed that Gold Card applicants will not receive
special treatment or more rapid approval times than applicants of traditional visas.
To attract interest in the program, the administration promised a fast-track process.
However, to oppose lawsuits filed in issuance of the executive order challenging the legality
of the program, the DHS contended that Gold Card applicants would not get any fast-track
treatment.
The lawsuit, filed by the Affirmative Litigation Democracy Defender Fund, claimed that
Gold Card applicants displace applicants for the government’s existing EB-1 and EB-2
programs.
Since the Gold Card was created through executive order, it uses the existing visa
categories EB-1 and EB-2 programs, which are reserved for people with “extraordinary
abilities” or of national interest.
Another lawsuit, filed by the American Association of University Professors claimed that
since Congress limits the number of EB-1 and EB-2 visas each year, the Gold Card program
will crowd out EB-1 and EB-2 applicants and “result in qualified, merit-based applicants
not being awarded visas.”
In its response, DHS said the Gold Card program has no impact on EB-1 and EB-2
applicants, since there are more than enough visas and the Gold Card has its own
dedicated processing staff.
The legal battle is one of the reasons the overseas wealthy have remained cool to the
program. Immigration attorneys who specialize in investment visas say their clients don’t
want to risk $1 million until the Gold Card is tested in the courts or ultimately approved by
Congress.
Interest in an existing visa program, EB-5, has risen though, seeing a recent surge in
applications. Under this program, U.S. residency is provided in exchange for an investment
of $800,000 to $1 million that creates at least 10 full-time jobs.
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