Trump & EB-5

News reports say presidential candidate Donald Trump licensed his name to his son-in-law who partially funded one of his condominium projects in New Jersey with EB-5 capital. See here for more detailed news. Trump’s companies have also reportedly employed foreign workers at one of his resorts with J-1 temporary visas. And, there are reports some foreign models are suing one of his businesses.

Anti-Immigrant Sentiment

I am concerned about the recent anti-immigrant sentiment that is emerging as a political theme in the U.S. (Trump, Cruz, and Rubio, among others, plus a few governors who do not want to accept refugees into their states) as well as in France (Le Pen, although she lost in the runoff this fall), Germany (Alternative German Party) and Denmark, among other places. Even popular German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s initial welcome of Syrian refugees has hurt her politically, even though Germany needs more young workers.

The U.S. has a long history of anti-immigrant politics starting with Benjamin Franklin’s hatred of the Germans, the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the McCarran-Walter Act of 1952; and IIRAIRA in 1996, targeting Mexicans and Central Americans.

We will see whether such recent anti-immigrant sentiments have an impact on the EB-5 extension legislation.

New York Times On EB-5

Between the Tuesday, March 15th exciting primary election results and Wednesday morning’s presidential appointment to the Supreme Court, you may have missed a disappointing story in the NY Times about the EB-5 program. It mentions a few bad apples, but no success stories or examples of the American jobs created by billions of dollars of EB-5 capital. The story is available here.