Trump Says He Could Sell ‘Russian Oligarchs’ a ‘Route’ to US Citizenship
As President Donald Trump and his administration order ICE raids across the country targeting undocumented immigrants, Trump unveiled his plans to offer a shiny new “gold card” with a price tag of $5 million to “very high-level people,” among them “Russian oligarchs.”
When speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday, Trump said the program would replace the controversial “EB-5” immigrant investor visa program, a similar path to citizenship that grants green cards to foreign investors green cards who invest $500,000 to $1 million and create at least 10 jobs.
“We’re going to be selling a gold card. You have a green card. This is a gold card. We’re going to be putting a price on that card of about $5 million and that’s going to give you green card privileges, plus it’s going to be a route to citizenship,” said Trump. “Wealthy people will be coming into our country by buying this card. They’ll be wealthy, and they’ll be successful, and they’ll be spending a lot of money and paying a lot of taxes and employing a lot of people, and we think it’s going to be extremely successful.”
When asked if a Russian oligarch would be eligible for a gold card, the president shrugged, “Yeah, possibly,” adding, “Hey, I know some Russian oligarchs that are nice people. It’s possible.”
“They’re not as wealthy as they used to be,” said Trump as his Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick chuckled beside him. “I think they can afford five million dollars.”
Lutnick said that people applying for the gold card would be vetted “to make sure they are wonderful world-class, global citizens.” Lutnick added that the proceeds from the program could be used to reduce the country’s deficit.
“We’ll be able to sell maybe a million of these cards, maybe more than that,” said Trump. “If you add up the numbers, they’re pretty good.”
How Trump can nix the current EB-5 visa program, which was reauthorized in 2022, without Congress’ approval is unclear. Full eligibility criteria and details of the proposed gold card were also not divulged.
As Trump’s crackdown intensifies, his administration has ordered immigration agents to find and deport thousands of undocumented immigrant children who came to the U.S. without their parents. Last week, it was revealed that the Department of Homeland Security budgeted up to $200 million to run anti-immigrant ads in the United States and overseas that repeatedly thank Trump for leading the immigration raids.
