In most cases, I can understand why immigration is a controversial issue.
Take amnesty, for instance. Opponents make reasonable points about the downside of rewarding folks who cut in line while supporters make reasonable points about deportation being harsh and impractical.
There’s also a fight relating to welfare, with critics (and not just in America) saying that immigrants are more likely to be poor and a burden on taxpayers and advocates pointing out that it makes more sense to wall off the welfare state rather than walling off the country.
The “anchor baby” issue is another emotional topic, with people on both sides of the issue making both legal and practical arguments about whether children born in the United States should automatically become citizens.
And then there’s the biggest question of all, which is deciding on the “right” number of immigrants, with answers ranging from none to completely open borders.
I get why these topics don’t have answers that are satisfactory to all sides.
But there is one immigration controversy that leaves me most puzzled. Why are some people opposed to the “EB-5” program designed to attract rich investors to America?
As I noted when defending Governor Scott Walker’s support for the program, this should be a slam-dunk issue. The program attracts people who will create jobs and won’t be a burden on taxpayers. Isn’t that a win-win situation?
Apparently not. Check out these excerpts from a hostile column by Kenric Ward in Roll Call.
Set to expire by year end, the EB-5 immigration program is up for renewal on Capitol Hill. Can Americans expect the biggest supporters of controversial investor visas to bring them under control? There are ample reasons to scrap the pay-for-play system that has been exposed by numerous government investigations. …Ostensibly, the EB-5 program uses foreign capital to create U.S. jobs. In fact, no one knows how many jobs. No one knows exactly where the money comes from, or where it winds up. Such niggling details don’t matter to lawmakers. They glibly call EB-5 a job-creating tool. That’s their story, and they’re sticking to it. …a visas-for-cash program was ill-conceived and ultimately unenforceable. The American model that uses hundreds of freewheeling middlemen as “job creators” is even more ripe for cronyism and outright fraud.
By the way, Mr. Ward makes a very valid point about cronyism. I’ve also criticized this aspect of the program, which almost seems designed to reward politicians and other insiders.
But I don’t want to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Other people, however, think the baby is the problem.
This Washington Post story basically says the program is unfair because rich people get to come to America.
…unions and immigrant advocates are focusing attention this week on a federal visa program that they deride as “Immigration Reform for the 1%.” The target of a series of press conferences in a half-dozen cities is the EB-5 immigrant investor program, which allows foreigners to get green cards by investing at least $500,000 in American businesses, as long as the money creates at least 10 jobs. Created by Congress in 1990 as a way to stimulate the U.S. economy, the program is supported by business groups and has increasingly been used in recent years by real estate developers and other firms seeking foreign investors. …“We have this program that gives a pretty fast track to immigrants from the 1 percent and gives incredible advantages to developers,” said Isaac Ontiveros, a research analyst for UNITE HERE, a union that represents nearly 300,000 hotel, casino and food service workers. He estimated that one-third of businesses funded by EB-5 are hotels or casinos.
Though I wonder whether Mr Ontiveros is simply looking to hold up reauthorization of the program in hopes of adding amnesty to the legislation.
Ontiveros added: “How does this help the 11 million people in this country who are stuck in immigration reform limbo?” …some critics saying the program doesn’t do enough to benefit targeted poor areas, especially rural ones… Ontiveros said…“We want those in Congress and at the local level to be aware of the inequities of this program,” he said.
In any event, I actually agree with Ontiveros that the program is inequitable. But that’s precisely the point. Lawmakers in America are picking and choosing who to let in the country and they’re deciding that it’s better to have successful investors.
Now let’s look at the issue from the other side. Why do upper-income people from overseas want to become Americans?
Well, an article in Quartz explains that they often come from nations that have unpalatable policies and that they want greater long-run stability.
The world’s wealthy and super-rich are increasingly on the hunt for second passports as they seek to protect their wealth, optimize their children’s education and move to countries with…greater economic and political stability. A report from New World Wealth reveals the top eight countries that have become popular second citizenship destinations for 264 000 of the world’s millionaires from 2000-2014. …Most countries with large outflows of millionaires have stringent tax regimes, prompting the super-rich to move to countries that are more favourable for their wealth.
This chart shows the countries with the greatest number of departing millionaires.
I imagine that folks escape France and Italy because of excessive taxation, while they leave the other countries because of a desire to redomicile in places where the quality of life is better and rule of law is stronger.
By the way, it’s a good sign when rich people want to come to the United States and a worrisome indicator when they don’t. Indeed, America would attract more really rich people if we didn’t have an onerous worldwide tax system.
P.S. In my humble opinion, the most troubling aspect of our immigration system is the way the refugee program is funding terrorists with welfare checks.
P.P.S. To close on a happier note, here some immigration-themed humor, starting with this amusing video about Americans sneaking into Peru and ending with this satirical column about Americans sneaking into Canada.
International Liberty 
[…] of the world, American citizenship is highly coveted. Indeed, foreigners have even been willing to invest a lot of money to increase the odds of getting to the United […]
[…] a big advocate and defender, for instance, of the EB-5 program that gives a preference for foreigners who invest in […]
[…] And I’ll also remind them that high-skill immigration (such as the people we attract with the EB-5 program) is worth […]
[…] like the underlying concept of programs such as the EB-5 visa that attract immigrants with money, and they are broadly sympathetic to immigrants with skills […]
[…] like the underlying concept of programs such as the EB-5 visa that attract immigrants with money, and they are broadly sympathetic to immigrants with skills […]
[…] like the underlying concept of programs such as the EB-5 visa that attract immigrants with money, and they are broadly sympathetic to immigrants with skills and […]
[…] don’t understand why some people think this is a bad thing. All things being equal, I’d rather have rich […]
[…] some policies designed to make this happen, including the H-1B visa for skilled workers and the EB-5 visa for job-creating investors. And if the data on median income for certain immigrant groups is any […]
[…] a big advocate and defender, for instance, of the EB-5 program that gives a preference for foreigners who invest in America’s […]
[…] a big advocate and defender, for instance, of the EB-5 program that gives a preference for foreigners who invest in America’s […]
[…] a big advocate and defender, for instance, of the EB-5 program that gives a preference for foreigners who invest in […]
I once investigated what it would take to immigrate to Australia. If I did not fit one of the classes of indigenous and accepted people (and I do not) then the only way was to bring a very large bank account.
It’s amazing that liberals always note how it is done in other countries until it disagrees with their agenda.
eb5 is of little value to the progressive agenda… the left can generate more political capital by opposing the measure… condemning the evil rich for buying their way into the country… and labeling republicans crony capitalists with bad haircuts…
reality be dammed… it’s the perceptions of low information voters that keeps the clown show on the road…
For far too long this nation has existed in some false illusion we are the ‘melting pot’ where all of every uncivilized society can magically exist in some society of social compatibility. If there ever was a mistake ever made by rational man, this is perhaps the epitome of that reality.
Perhaps the blame can be placed on the emotional appeal of Emma Lazarus and her poem of ‘The New Colossus’, advanced as some representation of what this nation represented, while in reality the principle reality of what this nation is was never recognized.
This nation is not a melting pot. It is more like a blast furnace. For in a blast furnace, the impurities are burnt out, and the structure of what is rendered is the strength of the process. Even in Emma Lazarus’s poem this realty it there, but are the words never comprehended or even bother with to understand. One line says what this nation is, and how it should be acknowledged. “Keep ancient lands, your gloried pomp.’
This error manifests itself in many ways. Who in any logical measurement or consideration can comprehend this statement of absolute insanity? The strength of our nation is our diversity. Oh, we are a diverse nation, alright. Let’s see, what do we have in our philosophy, our idealism, and our principles that are not of the Western Canon, and English result of their reformation? Oh, we have some, like the idea of communism, and the thing we find that make our nation worse off, like the concept of ‘The bank of England, which is the format for the insanity of the Federal Reserve; the thing that destroyed the English system of enterprise, as it is destroying this nations.
But, this was not of our design. In fact it took 13 years for the politicians to destroy our nation – adopting these ‘Gloried Pomps’ of European design, and enslave our own population, the citizens of this nation under the Despotism of Central Government, the Monarchy, the Communist, the what everyone else oin the face of the planet is enslaved under.
Thomas Jefferson made this observation of this nation, after penning the Declaration of Independence plagiarizing the principles of the ‘Rights of Colonist’. His reflection and concern was that his nation’s greatest danger was that it would create an economic hierarchy. That those with wealth, would be by some acquiescence given, through buying legislative power – hence the political parties – and enslave this nation. Thus creating our own strange hybrid of Monarchy, which would perpetuate those in power? Example; the absolute disgraceful family of the Bush’s with men who could not fight a war, a man who could not identify an enemy, and now one who can’t identify even what this nation is.
To provide some means, to prevent the Despotism of central planning, and protection of the citizens from this eventuality, the concept of our form of government as Samuel Adams had identified, of life, liberty and property had to be in the eyes of the laws of the land, and the judicial consideration, equal.
How that simple concept, that all will be evaluated equal in the eyes of the law, and in the legislation of the government has been completely forgotten.
If rules must be made, read the reasoning for the Johnson-Reed act, which was the only criteria to preserve the ethnicity, and the wonder of this nation. We need not those with wealth, we need those of the stock to be Americans. Today under the communist design to destroy this nation, if civilized do not apply, is absurdity.
We not need money, we need not parasites to create taxation, we need those who can assimilate into this nation, and become one – as the result of our blast furnace, not our melting pot – was designed to be.
When we lived in Panama, a significant percentage of store owners were Chinese … upon researching this, I discovered many had come over during the building of the canal, then stayed, opened a shop, saved their money and then imported family. They do it to this day.
Panama now has a law which states that IF a foreigner opens a business, it can only be in certain industries (mainly tourism) and they must employ a certain number of native Panamanians. One loophole with this is that over the years, many Chinese have become dual-citizens.