Why Congress Must Let EB-5 Regional Centers Expire
The EB-5 program’s regional centers, supposedly created to benefit the American economy in rural and depressed areas, in fact provide little economic benefit to the public. Even the Washington Post’s editorial board is critical of the EB-5 program, saying that the government does not sell but “gives away its visas to private businesses, who then market them for their benefit.” (Washington Post, Sept. 6, 2015) Furthermore, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which runs the program, has proved unable to prevent it from being a magnet for fraud. As Fortune magazine has said, USCIS is “accustomed to processing visas and conducting immigrant background checks” and is “ill-equipped to review business plans, job- creation studies, and securities offerings,” unlike other agencies whose mission it is to do so, such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). (Fortune, July 24, 2014)