Report: China’s Elite to ‘See the Most Benefit’ from Green Card Giveaway

China’s elite seeking EB-5 visas are set to “see the most benefit” from Sen. Mike Lee’s (R-UT) green card giveaway for Big Tech which passed the Senate this month with no objections from Republicans or Democrats.

Last week, Lee passed the giveaway — known as H.R. 1044 or S.386 — through unanimous consent. The giveaway ensures India can monopolize the United States’ employment-based green cards and allows multinational corporations to effectively privatize the green card line.

The giveaway solidifies that employment-based visas only go to temporary foreign visa workers, mostly on H-1B visas, who have been imported to the U.S. by corporations to replace American workers, thus rewarding companies who outsource American white-collar jobs.

Slipped in the giveaway are provisions that permanently change the scandal-plagued EB-5 visa program which rewards 10,000 wealthy foreign nationals annually with green cards so long as they claim to invest at least $900,000 in U.S. development projects. The program virtually lets the world’s elite buy American citizenship.

Analysis by the industry EB-5 Daily site notes that some of the giveaway’s biggest beneficiaries will the rich Chinese investors who have jammed up the program with applications for green cards:

Currently, there’s a 7% per-country cap limit on EB-5 visas, meaning no one country can receive more than 7% of the visas, unless there are left over visas, in which case these are allocated to the longest waiting applicants regardless of country of origin. [Emphasis added]

If passed, this bill may be a game-changer for EB-5, whose per-country caps have placed investors from high-demand countries in lengthy visa backlogs. Investors from China would see the most benefit, as they have been waiting the longest for visas. Other backlogged countries, such as Vietnam and India could also benefit. [Emphasis added]

Such changes to the EB-5 visa program would come as scandals have continued. This week, a federal judge slapped sanctions on a man accused of using the EB-5 visa program to defraud more than 50 wealthy Chinese and Iranian investors of more than $25 million by promising them green cards in exchange for investments in a Palm Beach, Florida hotel development project.

U.S. Tech Workers Executive Director Kevin Lynn, a group lobbying against the giveaway, told Breitbart News it is Senate Republicans who helping China buy up more of the American economy. Lynn said:

Republicans like to pride themselves in going after China for allegedly creating COVID-19, stealing our intellectual property, and unfair trade practices. Yet, these same Senate Republicans would like to reward rich Chinese investors with EB-5 visas, and to gain a monopoly on available EB-5 visas by passing this HR1044/S386 legislation.

“At the end of the day, Republicans have no one to blame but themselves for allowing China to eat our lunch,” Lynn continued.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) is reportedly attempting to slip the giveaway into an end-of-the-year omnibus spending bill. The giveaway could pass the House and be sent back to the Senate for passage if Republican lawmakers do not object.

In 2018, the U.S. rewarded nearly 8,000 wealthy foreign investors and their family members with green cards. Between 2014 and 2018, the federal government gave EB-5 visas to about 43,130 wealthy foreign investors and their family members who can secure American citizenship after five years of living in the U.S.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.