New immigration rules

 If you're rich, and nobody is asking how you got that money.

Gold card citizenship

OK, this isn't the point, but why does the "Gold Card" for citizenship in the U.S. have Trump's picture on it?  When are we going to change the name of the country to Trumpland?

Since February, the Trump administration has been touting a $5 million visa to wealthy foreigners to get into the United States with lofty promises of an immediate rollout. Aboard Air Force One in April, President Donald Trump flashed a laminated, golden prototype to reporters and announced that it would become available “in about less than two weeks,” while the White House launched a website in June to sign people up to join a waiting list.

[...]

The president and his aides have exaggerated the likelihood that such a program can be legally implemented and have made no effort to introduce legislation that would be needed.

  SaPo

Despite lofty promises, experts believe that any Trump gold visa has a long way before launch-- if it can ever be implemented at all.

Trump's Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who is leading the rollout, has suggested that the gold card visa would replace the existing investor EB-5 visa, which has a long queue. However, immigration attorneys note that the current legal framework in the United States does not permit prioritising wealthy people over others who have been waiting in line.

  NDTV

Yet.

[T]he visa eligibility criteria have not been changed by Congress in the past 35 years, since the 1990 law that formed today's green card and temporary visa categories.

[...]

The report noted that the US Supreme Court has ruled that Congress has "plenary power" over immigration issues and has supremacy over the executive branch in establishing immigration policy.

For now. Also, they don't use it.

George Fishman, a senior legal fellow at the Centre for Immigration Studies, said that in one 1950 decision, the court also said that "when Congress prescribes a procedure concerning the admissibility of aliens, it is not dealing alone with a legislative power. It is implementing an inherent executive power," according to the Post report.

There you go.

The US Congress has not changed visa categories in 35 years, and at times, legislators have pushed back when previous administrations pushed back against their powers.

It's a brand new world now. Republicans hold Congress, and Republicans are merely Trump rubber stamping ass kissers.

Cato Institute's Alex Nowrasteh noted the current Republican-held Congress is especially resistant to creating pathways for residency or citizenship.

That's ignoring the fact that the Gold Card costs $5M and has Trump's picture on it.

"There's zero appetite for people in Congress to consider this right now," Nowrasteh said.

That's ignoring the fact that Republicans no longer care what appetites their constituents have (just have a look at the recently passed Big Beautiful Bill). The only appetite they're concerned with is the Big Orange Butthead's.

Philadelphia-based immigration attorney Ron Klasko told the Post he advised his clients from Canada and Europe, who were interested in the visa, not to pursue the path, as there was little use in even signing up for the waiting list until the path becomes clearer.

"Why would I want to do that before I know if it's a law, what the law says, what the requirements are, what information the form is going to ask me for, what documents I have to produce, what the terms and conditions are," Klasko said.

Dude, you get on the list. Details come later.

He also cautioned the visa seekers to get more information on how wealthy people would be taxed under the new form of residency.

Now THAT'S an actual concern.

Lutnick recently told the Financial Times that 70,000 people had already signed up for the Trump card that would be made from real gold.

[...]

Per the Trump administration's estimation, 200,000 cards would add a net $1 trillion for the Treasury, which would help in paying the federal debt.

[...]

"Secretary Lutnick is determined to follow through on President Trump's vision to create a Gold Card visa program that will raise unprecedented revenues for the United States."

And, how much goes into Trump's pocket?

"This administration keeps forgetting that the executive branch doesn't make the law," [immigration attorney Rosanna Berardi] said.

Sweet summer child. Keep up, Rosanna.

Graft central

 

Shall we guess where the money is going?

Trump 2.0 - America for sale

 Buy your way into the United States.

Trump-Musk: B movie villains

 I don't think I've ever encountered a more despicable sight.  After Israeli war crimes have decimated Gaza, Trump puts this trash out.

Like something out of a Batman movie where the villain takes over.  Or Back to the Future, Part II, with Biff Tannen.

The video also comes at a time that a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel remains on shaky ground, with both sides accusing the other of violating the protocols over an agreement that is designed to swap Israeli hostages in Gaza who were seized in the 2023 attack for jailed Palestinian prisoners.

  Newsweek

Ooops.

Also...

America for sale.

Let's see....who would be able to buy a $5M Gold Card to get citizenship?  Oh yeah, Russian oligarchs.

No birthright citizenship.  You buy your way into Trump clubs.

UPDATE 02/28/2025:

Trump told the media that the US could bring in $50 trillion dollars on his Trump Gold Cards if they can sign up 10 million people to put up the $5 million price for US citizenship.

  Meidas Touch

Well, he got the math right.