Trump’s $5 million immigration ‘Gold Cards’ could split his party

President Trump announced Tuesday that his administration is planning to unveil a program that lets foreigners acquire a path to citizenship for a one-time $5 million fee. Unlike the existing EB-5 visa program, which grants green cards to wealthy investors for about one-fifth of the cost, Trump’s “gold card” initiative aims to attract greater capital while using the revenue to help reduce national debt.

“We’re going to be selling a gold card,” Trump said from the Oval Office during an Executive Order signing on price transparency in the hospital system. 

“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. And wealthy people will be coming into our country by buying this card,” the president added, saying that details about the proposal will come out in two weeks. 

Commerce secretary Howard Lutnick, the former CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, explained that the EB-5 program “was full of nonsense, make-believe and fraud, and it was a way to get a green card that was low price.” Lutnick added that the “wonderful world-class global citizens” brought in though this program would be vetted. 

When asked if Russian oligarchs could qualify for a “gold card,” Trump humorously answered: “Yeah, possibly. Hey. I know some Russian oligarchs that are very nice people.” The president also said he believed he could sell a million cards and hoped to sell 10 million of them — which would bring in $50 trillion.

The proposal has attracted some praise, with Anthony Esposito, founder and CEO of Island Capital Investments, telling Fox News that, “What you’re doing is you’re bringing in wealthier individuals, clearly job creators, consumers.”

But the suggestion has also, of course, drawn significant criticism. Ryan Girdusky, in his Nationalist Populist newsletter, took aim at Lutnick’s use of the term “global citizens,” which he emphasized from the Oval Office and in an interview with Fox News’s Bret Baier later that night. “We shouldn’t sell citizenship to the highest bidder,” Girdusky said. “The math is dubious at best.” He pointed at other ways to secure revenue such as increasing the endowment tax. 

Lora Ries, director of the Heritage Foundation’s Border Security and Immigration Center, also expressed skepticism regarding the program’s ability to address the fraud that plagues the EB-5 program. “So the question is, how is this going to be different?” Ries said on Fox News. “It raised the price from a million to 5 million, but how are we going to prevent the fraud? Are you just inviting wealthier fraudsters and corrupt people to exploit this?”

“My ancestors didn’t fight in the American Revolution and two world wars just for us to turn the country into an economic zone that’s available to the highest bidders,” Eduardo Neret, a former producer for Tucker Carlson Tonight, said on X this morning. Outkick founder Clay Travis, meanwhile, claims to “love Trump’s idea,” arguing that “it’s the first original idea I’ve heard to try and pay off our national debt.” Patrick Bet-David, host of the PBD podcast, also joined Travis in lauding the proposal. 

The coming weeks should provide more clarity on what the policy will look like, and the role Congress might play in shaping it. What is apparent is that for a president with a base that supports decreasing immigration and economic growth, the policy is accentuating factions’ distinct interest.