ABC News Chief Investigative Correspondent Brian Ross will lower the boom on fraudsters and other criminals using the immigrant investor (EB-5) program in tonight's broadcast of "World News Tonight" and later on "Nightline".
Armed with a fistful of reports from whistleblowers within USCIS, Ross reports that the United States "Gave visas to suspected forgers, fraudsters, [and] criminals".
Although there are references to the ongoing EB-5 scandals in South Dakota and the SEC-prevented theft of millions in a Chicago-area EB-5 fraud scheme, most of Ross's story relates to the use and misuse of EB-5 moneys in Las Vegas, and the intervention of Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), then Senate majority leader, on behalf of the investors and middlemen in an EB-5 investment program in that city.
Ross reports:
Five different Homeland Security whistleblowers spoke with ABC News about a range of cases where visas were approved despite numerous red flags. They said objections were often ignored because the immigration program is so popular within the Obama administration and with members of Congress from both parties. Known as the EB-5 visa program, foreigners who are willing to invest $500,000 in an American business can jump to the front of the line and obtain legal status to live in the U.S. for two years. If the investment is shown to create at least 10 jobs, the investors can receive a "green card" — permanent residency.
Some immigration groups have criticized the program as "nothing more than selling green cards." Brent Wilkes, the executive director of the League of United Latin American Citizens, one of the largest Hispanic civil rights groups in the U.S., said it "short circuits" the immigration process, allowing foreign nationals "with enough cash" to leap ahead of legitimate applicants who lack the means.
the EB-5 Visa Program:
Getting the national leadership of LULAC to go on record opposing an immigration program of any kind is a coup in and of itself.
According to another ABC News article on the EB-5 program:
Federal agents in Los Angeles are investigating an L.A. shipping firm [American Logistics International] and its Iranian-born owner who for years have participated in and promoted an obscure U.S. immigration program — allowing the company to recruit wealthy foreign investors to receive visas and potentially green cards, law enforcement sources told ABC News.
The company's name surfaced in a confidential Department of Homeland Security government document, which raised "concerns that this particular visa program may be abused by Iranian operatives to infiltrate the United States."
The Center for Immigration Studies helped ABC News in the early stages of its research for these reports.