Goodlatte & Issa Statement on Proposed Reforms to the Investor Visa Program

Washington, D.C. – House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and Congressman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) today issued the following statements on the Department of Homeland Security’s proposed changes to the EB-5 investor visa program. Chairman Goodlatte: “While I support the overall goal of the EB-5 investor visa program, it is currently riddled with fraud and abuse and has strayed further and further away from the program Congress envisioned when creating the program a quarter century ago. The facts make it clear that this program is in desperate need of reform. “I am pleased that the Department of Homeland Security has proposed increasing the investment amount and curtailing gerrymandering in this immigration program. This will help ensure that EB-5 investment funds are directed to distressed urban and rural communities that need them the most. I urge President-Elect Trump to finalize these common-sense and long overdue proposals to strengthen the integrity of this program so that it benefits the American economy.” Rep. Issa: “In the decades since its inception, the EB-5 program strayed far from Congress’ intent for these visas. Rather than becoming a boon to job creation and capital investment, the program became a cluster of abuse and a disgrace to the integrity of our immigration system. I am delighted to see the reasonable reforms put forward to the Department of Homeland Security. These measures will restore sanity to a program that once held great promise for putting America first.” Background:

• Reform to the EB-5 investor visa program is needed more than ever. For example, the minimum investment amounts have not been increased since the program’s creation in 1990, which has limited the program’s ability to meet its mission of creating jobs and injecting capital into the U.S. economy. Additionally, regional centers gerrymander “targeted employment areas” in order to accept capital at the lower investment level, even when investing in luxury high-rises in affluent areas. Various agencies and government watchdogs have also identified national security concerns with this program, including economic espionage, use by foreign government agents and terrorists, and money laundering.

• In February 2016, the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on “Is the Investor Visa Program an Underperforming Asset?” to examine problems within the program.

• In April 2016, Chairman Goodlatte testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee and called for reform to the EB-5 program.

• Last Congress, Chairman Goodlatte introduced bipartisan legislation to reform the troubled EB-5 program, the American Job Creation and Investment Promotion Reform Act of 2016 (H.R. 5992).