Citizenship to the Land of the Free now comes with a $5 million price tag

After nearly a decade of vitriol against immigrants, President Trump has finally changed his tune — if they have $5 million.

In 1992, Congress approved the Immigrant Investor Program, later titled the EB-5 program, which allowed investors who injected $1,050,000 into the American economy ($800,000 for economically distressed zones) a pathway to a green card. During his first term, Trump attempted to raise these amounts to $1,800,000 and $900,000, respectively, but was blocked by a federal judge. Now, CNN reports that Trump plans to scrap the program entirely in favor of a new system allowing anyone who pays $5 million to gain green card privileges and a “path to citizenship.” The program, of course, is called “the gold card.”

Trump’s love-hate relationship with his fellow elites is almost as well-documented as his disdain for immigrants, making one wonder about the dilemma he probably faced when drafting this law, set to be officially introduced in the next two weeks. When a reporter pointed out that Russian oligarchs might exploit the program, Trump stated the obvious — assuring that they, too, are welcome and that he knows some “very nice” Russian oligarchs.

Trump: "We're going to be selling a gold card. We're going to be putting a price on that card of about $5 million."

Reporter: "Would a Russian oligarch be eligible for a gold card?"

Trump: "Yeah, possibly. Hey, I know some Russian oligarchs that are very nice people." pic.twitter.com/j3FDGueHY2

— euronews (@euronews) February 26, 2025

He did, however, promise strict vetting. It remains to be seen how such vetting would fail to catch the illicit dealings of Russian oligarchs whose assets across the EU are largely frozen — to the collective tune of nearly $300 billion. Hopefully, after having his hand pried from President Macron’s knee during a televised press conference, Trump got the chance to ask why Europe is freezing the assets of his “very nice” acquaintances in the first place — and personally end said vetting right then and there.

But what was truly fascinating was watching Trump hypothesize how much money the program might generate. According to him, selling 1 million gold cards would bring in $5 trillion, while selling 10 million would generate $50 trillion. His administration claimed at the press conference that the program would significantly reduce the national deficit. However, the numbers just don’t seem achievable. According to Financial Times’ Personal Wealth Management, only 2,075,000 individuals worldwide have a net worth exceeding $5 million, and Business Standard estimates that just 142,000 millionaires will migrate in 2025. Furthermore, the U.S. budget deficit was $1.57 trillion in 2023 — meaning, by their logic, this program alone could wipe it out.

Of course, Trump’s base has never been one to care about facts. They can always chalk up whatever he says to hyperbole, generously interpreting his intentions as an effort to create wealth in America. The question, however, has always been: creating wealth for whom exactly? Because even if he wants people to believe this gold card program will reduce the deficit, in reality, it’s just a more exclusive version of the EB-5 program — one that even fewer people can afford and, perhaps more importantly, an investment even further removed from the regular Americans who need it most.

Maybe this is ultimately why Bill Burr was so mad at billionaires — it seems they’ll try everything under the sun, even making up math, rather than embracing the obvious solution: raising taxes on the ultra-rich.