The selling of America continues

Want to be a legal resident of the US but don’t want to wait in those pesky lines with the unwashed masses?  No problem, buy a visa.

In 1991 Congress created the EB-5 visa program which allows foreigners who invest between $500,000 and $1,000,000 in a business enterprise to receive a conditional green card.

Congress established the U.S. program 20 years ago to allow foreign investors from any country who could prove the lawful source of their money to obtain conditional green cards for themselves and immediate family members. For the green cards to become permanent, each investment must have created at least 10 new, full-time jobs for legal U.S. residents by the end of two years.

Typically, foreigners invest $500,000 through entities known as regional centers — usually development companies such as American Life, which owns the Sodo office complex that Mu and Anikeeva invested in

I don’t have a problem with that.  Entrepaneurship and creating jobs are good things.  What I do have a problem with is the fact that the people receiving these visas don’t actually have to be involved with running the company or creating the jobs.

The investors have virtually no direct management involvement in the centers, which are authorized by Citizen and Immigration Services. The investors may live wherever they want in the U.S., regardless of the location of the project.

It is just selling US residence to the highest bidder.

"The first priority is securing the green card," Mu said through an interpreter. "Financial return of the capital is second."

…

Anikeeva can't help but feel a sense of pride when she drives past the building that her investment helped make possible.

"I tell people that being born in the U.S. itself is worth at least $500,000," she said.

Personally, To me this is much more offensive than an illegal alien jumping the Mexican border.  Yeah they are breaking the rules but they are risking something to make a better life for themselves.  These people are just throwing a little bit of money at us and we kiss their asses.