A senior House Republican asked the federal government’s watchdog office to investigate the Chinese Community Party’s use of a U.S. visa program to help members gain entry into the United States, according to a congressional document obtained by the Washington Examiner.
Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, ranking member of the House Judiciary and House Oversight Committees, along with Rep. Guy Reschenthaler of Pennsylvania, asked in a Monday letter to Government Accountability Office Comptroller General Gene Dodaro to examine the rate at which China’s controlling political party, increasingly viewed by the White House and others as an adversary, has submitted fraudulent applications for members. The letter suggests the applicants posed as immigrants but may have ulterior motives for entering the country.
“On May 21, 2020, President Trump announced a new strategic approach to the People’s Republic of China, with a goal of ‘protect[ing] the American people, homeland, and way of life.’ Consistent with this goal, we write to request that the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) review the extent to which the CCP is abusing the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa Program,” the letter states, though it did not include examples of abuse.
The EB-5 program was created in 1990 to give immigrants a pathway to becoming citizens as long as they agree to invest and create jobs. The investor, as well as his or her immediate family, are eligible for green cards, which allow them to permanently reside in the country for several years before applying for citizenship. They must create at least 10 full-time jobs for U.S. workers. The program is overseen by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency within the Department of Homeland Security.
“Although the EB-5 program’s goal of stimulating capital investment and job creation in the United States is laudable, it has become clear in recent years that the CCP may be abusing the program to gain access to U.S. permanent residency for their members,” the letter states. “Between 2012 and 2018, 80 percent of the nearly 10,000 EB-5 visas available each year went to Chinese-born investors.”
The GAO reported on fraud within the program in 2016. The two conservative lawmakers asked the office to look at how others, specifically the Chinese Communist Party, could manipulate the U.S. government through the program.
“As Congress reevaluates our relationship with the People’s Republic of China, the time is ripe for GAO to again examine the EB-5 program,” the lawmakers wrote.
