Donald Trump has now arranged things such that the United States will be issuing Green Cards for prospective workers, and selling “Gold Cards” to the world’s wealthy elite who can afford a $5 million premium – thereby attracting the type of people this nation needs the less than any other, at least or unless the nation ups the number of Green Cards it is issuing to selected workers, particularly skilled employment in tech, farm jobs, and construction – if Florida is a lesson. The United States needs workers, particularly in industries that traditionally hire new immigrants – agriculture, tourism, and construction. It doesn’t need a mechanism by which to increase economic inequality in a country in which inequality and the disappearance of the middle class is becoming second only to hyper-partisanship dividing up what had been a truly “United” nation.
According to President Donald Trump today from the White House, he couldn’t have been clearer:
Trump: “We’re gonna be selling a gold card. You have a green card, this is a gold card. We’re gonna put a price on that card of about $5 million and that’s going to give you green card privileges, plus. It’s gonna be a route to citizenship, and wealthy people will be coming into our country.”
We are selling citizenship now.
— Bradley P. Moss (@bradmossesq.bsky.social) 2025-02-25T22:23:13.105Z
And that is the “good part” of this deal. Yes, we would be attracting wealth, but wealth without more workers and a place to which the money flows “down” is not an inherent good, which is not to say it is impossible to be valuable. But economic stability in the form of livable wages is the “good” we should be seeking. The United States was at its strongest when the middle class was the strongest – the post war period in the middle 20th Century. It was a time of unions, one income families, the summer vacation, healthcare, a parent at home, cheap college… Stability. Which led to unity. Selling citizenship is fundamentally against who we were purported to be as a country. And then there is the criminal element. Because what type of wealthy folks want to pick up and move to a burgeoning authoritarian state? Correct.
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/alaafj3isH
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 25, 2025
Yes, in other words, oligarchs are welcome to apply, even though – as applied to some nations, the very word implies criminality. Indeed, many will say that there is no way to get rich in Russia without criminal behavior. After all, it is supposed to be illegal to move money out of Russia with all the sanctions on the nation right now.
With the Trump Gold Card (USD 5 million for residency), it is clear that the problem for him is not migrants, but poor migrants.
Reporter: Can Russian oligarchs buy the Gold Card?
Trump: Yes, I know Russian oligarchs who are very nice people.pic.twitter.com/gvjZKIGQDb
— Cristóbal Vásquez (@TobalVasquez) February 25, 2025
There is a case to be made for a program by which there is active recruitment in U.S. investment. Perhaps if the $5 million was directed toward business development or employment with commensurate increases in workers, perhaps infrastructure, one could argue that a well-regulated program in which eligibility would be first granted to allied nations, perhaps people who have lived here before or been educated here, perhaps people with families or sponsors, it all might be worthwhile. This just doesn’t sound like that. It sounds like an unregulated card for sale with no accompanying expectations – and, so far, no regulations that we see or through Congress. It sure doesn’t sound like Donald Trump concerns himself with the background of people in organized crime (Though we haven’t seen the specifics). One would be concerned enough if most of the “investment” came from Russia and Saudi Arabia. Throw in China and now you have real security problems.
Remarkably, he is discussing selling citizenship to people who are currently under sanctions and prohibited from the very investment that he’s proposing, or – hell, what I just proposed. It would seem that Congressional action would be required for any of this but certainly with how it conflicts with current sanctions, as delineated by Grok:
The sanctions specifically aim to prevent Russian oligarchs from moving money out of Russia by imposing asset freezes and prohibiting transactions with designated persons. For instance, the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has designated numerous oligarchs, blocking their assets under US jurisdiction and prohibiting US persons from dealing with them, as seen in the March 2022 sanctions on Kremlin elites and oligarchs (Treasury Sanctions Kremlin Elites, Leaders, Oligarchs, and Family for Enabling Putin’s War Against Ukraine). Similarly, the EU’s measures, updated as recently as February 23, 2025, include adding individuals and organizations to sanctions lists, with a focus on those linked to the Kremlin and military sectors (Sanctions adopted following Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine).
So that’s where that stands. Another day, another radical development. Some of this is offensive primarily because it seems to be coming out on the fly. Fundamentally changing our immigration system such that there is now a “Gold Card” and path to citizenship for sale (Do you think they’ll wait long?) would normally have to go through Congress and be studied as to the best implementation. What is keeping drug lords from buying cards? We don’t know. We can only presume that something would be in place. Presumptions being dangerous.
Great news for the mexican/Chinese drug cartels…they have plenty of cash to unload.
In Trumpworld EVERYTHING has a price and the buck stops with Dear Leader – when it ends up in his pocket.
Right now I would suggest that ALL women who do not have a passport get one ASAP! If the MAGA movement gets their way women will lose their right to vote!
Vote? You must be joking. Women did vote…to support the adjudicated RAPIST, who ended over 50 years of women’s rights. The good news for men? We can rape at will with no consequences. Thanks ladies…I guess Trump was right all along…you wanted it. Vote? Now that’s funny considering where we are…there will be no more true elections in the USA. Thanks ladies for pissing on the ultimate sacrifice MEN have paid for you to be SMARTER. As I figured, since the radical feminists told me I was evil for having a penis in the 70s, YOU PHUCKERS ARE NO MORE ENLIGHTENED THAN WE PENIS HOLDERS. Vote? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Thanks for the humor.
Finally, he is pushing something that is actually in the Bible. Saul, afterwards Saint Paul, bought his Roman citizenship, and I don’t think it was cheap. The verse in King James IIRC goes “At a great price I obtained this freedom.”
But there is no suggestion that the Roman Empire was anything other than corrupt.
Of course Donnie Boy knows some very nice oligarchs. He wants to remake America in the image of Putin’s Russia. Given a choice between Trump’s vision and the Mafia, I think I’d prefer the Mafia.