He pulled out the “Trump” card.
President Trump proudly showed off the design of his administration’s new $5 million “gold card” to reporters aboard Air Force One on Thursday.
Back in February, Trump revealed plans to begin selling gold cards that would feature “green-card privileges-plus” to deep-pocketed foreigners by effectively revamping the backlogged and cumbersome EB-5 visa program.
“For $5 million, this could be yours,” Trump told reporters. “That was the first of the cards. You know what that card is?”
“It’s the gold card — the Trump card.”
Trump claimed that he was the first buyer but wasn’t sure who the second buyer was and explained that the card “will be out in less than two weeks, probably.”
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick previously claimed last month that more than 1,000 gold cards had been sold and that over 37 million people globally have the means of buying one.
Underpinning the gold card system is a revamp of the EB-5 visa program, which gives foreign nationals who have invested about $1 million into the US a means of obtaining a green card, which is distinct from a visa in that it grants permanent residency to non-citizens and creates a pathway to citizenship.
Unlike certain visas that lock foreigners into specific workplaces, green cards give migrants flexibility to choose where to work.
Congress created the EB-5 visa program in the 1990s with differing threshold requirements.
“There’s a line for EB-5 of 250,000 right now. 200,000 of these gold green cards [at $5 million] is $1 trillion to pay down our debt,” Lutnick previously explained, referring to the $36.5 trillion national debt.
Over the past two and a half decades, there have been 135,518 EB-5 visas issued, according to data from the Invest In the USA (IIUSA) trade association of program participants.
The revamp of the EB-5 system simplifies the process and drops preferences for foreigners to invest in rural or high unemployment areas.
Good government watchdogs have raised concerns about the gold card system leading to corruption. Other countries have similar programs in place to attract wealthy migrants.
Trump’s remarks about the gold card came while riding Air Force One to Florida for the LIV Golf tour at his resort.