Citizenship for Sale. . .

Okay . . Let me just get my own opinions on immigration out here now . . I believe that like our ancestors before us coming to America is an incredible gift and I welcome those who come here the right way. By the right way I mean that you get in line, go through the process and come when your number is called. I understand and appreciate the reasons why people want to live here but find that more and more of those coming into our country are doing so illegally and are reaping untold benefits at the expense of our nation.

In addition we run a health care staffing company and are constantly working with physicians, who are desperately needed in this country who cannot obtain citizenship or find a sponsor for their visa and must return home. The limited number of "spots" available for health care workers is not nearly enough to cover the need and if we cannot produce the trained, health care staff in our country then we have to get them from somewhere. (I could go on about this for hours and probably will later on as it is a complicated issue but I just want to say that I believe you should get in line and that you should go home until your number is called.)

With this in mind I was flipping through the new issue of Fortune Small Business at lunchtime today and came across a small article that caught my attention. The title was "Cash Without Borders", which right away screams immigration at me. I maybe slow on the boat for this one but this piece of legislation is news to me . . .

There is a program called the EB-5 Visa Program. I consider myself a pretty knowledgeable source on visa programs and issues just from dealing with them in our business but this one has never come up. According to the author, Lisa Lerer, "The program grants temporary visas to foreigners who invest at least $500k in distressed areas. If an investment center creates at least 10 jobs for American workers, the temporary visa can become a permanent green card . . . Distressed areas that win "regional center" status from the U.S. government can market local ventures to overseas investors who become equity partners. Today there are 46 regional centers scattered across the country, offering investments in everything from Napa Valley vineyards to ethanol plants."

This in itself make my head spin around . . How about some tax incentives for Americans to invest in "distressed areas"? Aren't we supposed to be all about building communities and community service? Maybe this too is the new way of community service . . selling the most sacred thing we have, our American citizenship for money? Now before you say this money is helping "distressed areas", blah, blah, blah . . let me lay this out for you further.

A quick search turned up some interesting points that the article had somehow not mentioned.

1. The first site I came across, www.E5visa.com, whose tagline by the way is "Invest Your Way Into America". And here I thought capitalism was dead . . but just when you thought so here comes Senator Lehay (D-VT) to save the day (YEA! WARM FUZZIES) . . "WASHINGTON (Wednesday, July 8, 2009) – The Senate Wednesday adopted an amendment sponsored by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) to make permanent the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Regional Center pilot program. The amendment was added to the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act. " Look more legislation hidden in another bill . . oh and P.S. "Earlier this year, Leahy secured a six-month extension of the successful EB-5 Regional Center pilot program in the Omnibus Appropriations Act. He has introduced legislation in previous Congresses to make the program permanent. Since it was first created in 1993, the pilot program has attracted millions of dollars in foreign investment in the United States, and created thousands of new domestic jobs. There are 22 Regional Centers across the country, including a successful center in Vermont, with new applications pending at the immigration agency. Unless Congress permanently extends the program, it will expire in September."

You will be happy to know that Vermont has its very own Regional Center . . just a coincidence I am sure. And so you don't think I am a crazy Republican out to blame this on the Democrats I just want to point out that this is bipartisan legislation, which was added as a 2nd amendment to an amendment sponsored by Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) to make permanent an employee verification system. FYI: "Leahy and Sessions are the Chairman and Ranking Member, respectively, of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which considers immigration-related matters". . . oh and guess what? Alabama has it's own Regional Center also . . the crazy coincidences just keep on coming. . but i am getting ahead of myself as you must be asking what a Regional Center is? Well just let me tell you . .


2. The United States Immigration and Citizenship website has issued an updated list of Regional Centers which includes multiple locations in CA, a couple in Chicago, Hawaii, New Jersey, Louisiana . . . don't forget Vermont, Alabama and Florida. As I scrolled through the list I started noticing that a lot of these "Regional Centers" are in fact private businesses, with several being LLCs. That seemed odd to me as why would the Federal Government be running LLCs? Our company is an LLC and isn't affiliated with the government and we are certainly not on the Immigration and Citizenship Website for someone to contact for the E5-Visa program.

There had to be more . . so I continued to scroll . . . until something jumped out at me. There are many fine links on this site but one of the most fascinating was one I found in Louisiana. "The New Orleans Mayor's Office Regional Center", www.nobleoutreach.com. This strikes me as an odd name for a government program . . but then again with community organizing becoming the new framework anything is possible. . .

I don't want to misquote them so I am going to paste the site's own description of its purpose and service . . "NobleOutReach (NOR) helps foreign nationals and Immigrant Investors:
Invest in America through the EB-5 Immigrant Investor program, and
Diversify risk and gain access to United States immigration benefits.
The EB-5 Immigrant Investor program was Congressionally approved into law and created by the United States to attract and invest foreign capital into The New Orleans Regional Center (RC). The New Orleans Regional Center provides foreign investors and their families with a means of obtaining permanent U.S. residency through a green card. NobleOutReach, through its private equity investment funds, is focused on investing in profitable businesses along the coastal areas of the Gulf of Mexico in the United States, affected by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. NobleOutReach was awarded the exclusive 30-year contract with New Orleans, Louisiana (NOLA) to perform all of the operational and financial aspects of the EB-5 investment activities."

After my head stopped spinning, it is possible that I was for once speechless. .
This is citizenship for sale . . . forget give us your poor, your tired . . the new mantra of immigration is give us those who can donate $500k+ to our Regional Centers. Yes, ladies and gentleman for the price of $500K you can book passage to U.S. Citizenship through the Regional Center of your choice. Many have their own legal staff to help with any problems you might encounter. And as I read on and on I discovered that this $500k covers not only you but your immediate family, including children up to the age of 21. If you happen to have a child who has passed that age, don't worry you can gift them citizenship with a gift in their name of $500k.

This is such a great deal, I can't believe I haven't heard of this before! Foreigners can invest in our communities (receive dividends and profits) and then after an extremely long wait of 2 years they can obtain Permanent Residence Status and can cash out their investment . . I am thinking since CA has so many Regional Offices (18 I counted) why don't they just sell more visas to shore up their debt? According to many sites there are 10,000 of these visas available with not even 10% of them being used each year. I'm just thinking out loud here but why don't we give those to I don't know maybe someone with a usable skill . .

I know I have been blinded to what has been going on for a long time but this has been happening since 2002 and I am amazed that I did not know about this. This could be great for my business . . "Dr. Z, don't worry that you are in debt up to your eyeballs coming out of medical school, just get $500k together and we can buy you citizenship. No sponsorship worries for you. Would you like to invest in a winery, or New Orleans, ethanol perhaps. . no I know what would be perfect for you . . Hollywood."

Since Hollywood is truly one of the most disadvantaged places I can think of it is only fitting that
they receive as much assistance as possible . . Luckily some investors were able to step in to keep the lights on . . . "The next Los Angeles Film Regional Center project is now open. It is a project that will be a $100 MM loan to Time Warner Inc. to finance a portion of the $200 MM production costs they will spend in the next two years. Time Warner is the world’s second largest media and entertainment conglomerate, with major operations in film, television, publishing, Internet service and telecommunications. This project is projected to create more than 3,250 indirect jobs, allocating 16-17 jobs per investor.
Please see LosAngelesFund.com for more information"

By the way what is an indirect job? And if Obama needs to prove job creation why aren't he and Biden shouting exciting news like this from every media outlet? Just asking . .

And in case I didn't mention this, you don't even have to create jobs you can just invest in one of the funds and then you can live anywhere you want in the United States, heaven forbid the buyers of US citizenship . . I mean "investors" would have to live in a "distressed area."

If this is the case and this is the way we are going, why do we need stimulus and bailouts? Just sell some more citizenship. . .

It is also worth mentioning that Ohio just received permission to build a Regional Center, the first one to be built in a state that someone on the Committee wasn't a representative of . . . Again I am just saying . .

This bill is in committee and could be voted on at anytime. I intend to let everyone I can know about this legislation and the bill it is buried in . I ask if you read this to spread this to everyone you know. I know that we are all calling and emailing every hour for something else but this legislation cannot stand, tell your Senator's that America is not for sale! Small business, really any American business, in this country is under attack from many sides and there is no assistance in sight . . Many American run businesses would be happy to be in all of these "distressed" areas if they were offered tax incentives, returns on their investment, etc. All I can say is it feels like the American Dream is for sale . . and honestly that is the saddest thing I think I have ever heard.

-Nichole, in constant pursuit of life, liberty and happiness