President Donald Trump’s commerce secretary has revealed the shocking number of people he claims are attempting to get their hands on one of Trump’s $5 million immigration “gold cards.”
Howard Lutnick appeared in an interview on Fox News alongside Bret Baier on Wednesday night, where the avid Trump supporter described the first Cabinet meeting with President Donald Trump as “great fun.”
In the exclusive interview on Special Report, Baier asked Lutnick about one of Trump’s latest bombshells: a new visa program offering legal status in America—described by Trump as a “green card, plus”—for the hefty price of $5 million. Trump said the program would be called the “gold card.”
“It’s going to be a route to citizenship, and wealthy people will be coming into our country by buying this card, Trump said Tuesday night as he announced the program. “They’ll be wealthy, and they’ll be successful, and they’ll be spending a lot of money and paying a lot of taxes.”
Speaking on the “gold card,” Lutnick claimed applicants would be “deeply vetted,” explaining the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program currently offered by the U.S. would be replaced under Trump’s “gold card” program. The EB-5, created in 1990, allows investors, their spouses, and unmarried children under 21 to be eligible for permanent residency if they can “make the necessary investment in a commercial enterprise in the United States;” and “plan to create or preserve 10 permanent full-time jobs for qualified U.S. workers,” according to its website.
Lutnick claimed 250,000 people were already waiting in line for access. According to Fox, that would add $1.25 trillion to the United States' vault.
“The president had conversations over the weekend with his friend John Paulson, who came up and said, ‘Hey, why aren’t we doing better with that?’” Lutnick explained.
“He called me. We talked about it, and I did work over the weekend, and on a Monday, and on Tuesday at a press conference, the president comes out and gives the path.”
Lutnick added those that would be approved will be “great global citizens who are going to bring entrepreneurial spirit, capacity, and growth to America.”
