☕ The new US Golden Ticket

Welcome to Thursday.

Late last night, the Supreme Court paused an order placed on the Trump administration to release $2 billion in frozen foreign aid. Arguing only hours before the deadline, the White House successfully convinced the court to take a few more days to review the arguments in more detail. It’s the first time Trump’s plans to dramatically cut government spending had reached the highest court in the country, and we’re going to have to wait a few more days to see what exactly they think of the legality of some of the cuts.

I’ve got 30 seconds

Some headlines from this morning:

Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy will meet President Trump on Friday at the White House in an attempt to finalize a mineral deal between the US and Ukraine. Reportedly, under the terms of the draft deal, Ukraine would pay half of all the revenue they generate from the sale of their mineral resources into a US fund, potentially in exchange for broad US security guarantees. The announcement of Zelenskyy’s visit comes amid a week of tension between the two countries, after Zelenskyy rejected President Trump’s original deal. Zelenskyy has said the promise of US security guarantees would be the “key to ensuring that Russia will no longer be destroying the lives of other nations."

A child has died in Texas from measles, a highly contagious disease thought to have been eradicated in the US in the early 2000s. This is the first child death from the measles since 2003, with pathologists attributing the reemergence of the virus to recent vaccine skepticism. In Texas, nearly one in five children had vaccine exemptions in the 2023-2024 school year. Secretary of Health RFK Jnr announced two deaths from the outbreak (only one has been confirmed), but called for calm and said the number of measles cases in this outbreak was still less than last year.

The US Department of Agriculture has announced a five-pronged, $1 billion package to combat the US egg shortage and support poultry farmers as bird flu continues to affect their stock. Avian flu has killed 166 million chickens and increased the price of a dozen eggs by nearly $3 since 2022. $900 million will be allocated to upgrading bio-security apparatus and financial relief to farmers, whilst the remaining $100 million will be used to explore vaccines for hens, import foreign eggs to reduce the cost for consumers, and dismantle regulations hindering egg producers.

Hamas has returned the bodies of four hostages, completing their hostage return obligations under Phase One of the ceasefire agreement. The hostages, aged 49 to 85, were killed by Israeli airstrikes, Hamas says. Israel denies this, stating the hostages were killed by Hamas terrorists. The fragile ceasefire agreement was further tested recently when Israel proved that one of the four bodies returned to them last week was not who Hamas claimed. The most recent handover of the bodies to the Red Cross was performed at night, avoiding a Hamas propaganda spectacle widely condemned by human rights groups which had occurred during the previous hostage return.

I’ve got 1 minute

US Immigration officials have today announced that all illegal immigrants will be required to register with the government or face fines, imprisonment or both. This is not a new law but a proclamation of enforcement - let’s explain.

Here’s some background

President Trump ran his campaign on two main platforms: fixing the economy and reducing rates of illegal immigration. Part of his immigration promises was to carry out mass deportations of illegal immigrants already in the US, starting with illegal immigrants who have committed a crime.

An illegal or unauthorized immigrant is a person who enters or stays in a country illegally, i.e. without the requisite visa or passport.

This week, the Trump administration has created a registry for immigrants in the US, asking those here illegally to submit their information or risk fines and jail time.

The Registry

The legal basis for punishing unauthorized immigrants who do not register with the government is contained in a law from the 1940s, which has rarely been enforced in recent times. Immigration officials proclaimed that, “The Trump administration will enforce all our immigration laws.” After attempts to build the registry throughout the 1940s and 50s, the US Government eventually abandoned the idea in the 1960s after stating it was too expensive and difficult to maintain.

The registration process will involve submitting an address and fingerprints to a US government database.

Some are confused as to why unauthorized immigrants would voluntarily come forward to register themselves, as it could lead to deportation. Others reason that the focus of the Trump administration on deporting unauthorized immigrants who commit crimes means failure to register (itself a criminal offence) could put them in the cross-hairs.

What’s next?

The US Citizenship and Immigration Service is in the process of creating a form for registration and says unauthorized immigrants must, under any circumstance, register.

I’ve got 2 minutes

This week, President Trump announced a ‘Golden Card’ program, where non-US citizens are offered a pathway to citizenship if they pay a $5 million fee. The ‘Golden Card’ program will replace a similar pre-existing program. The President has declared the proceeds from the visa will be used to pay off US debt.

What’s the idea?

‘Golden Visas’ or ‘Golden Cards’ are not a new strategy - over 100 countries employ similar programs. European iterations of the programs rose in popularity during the 2012 financial crisis, when countries struggling economically offered residency in return for investment of a specified amount.

Under President Trump’s proposal, the $5 million fee would not be the only hurdle a hopeful foreign investor would need to overcome. The US Secretary of Commerce implied Golden Card candidates would be vetted, while President Trump added, “It will be people with money and people that create jobs.”

President Trump mused that if one million golden visas could be sold, it would significantly pay down US debt.

The EB-5 Visa

The EB-5 visa will be replaced by the new Golden Card scheme. The program has existed since the 1990s, and has resulted in billions in foreign investment being injected into the US economy by foreign investors seeking a visa.

The program was reformed in 2022, when it was revealed that fraudulent money may have been used to pay for some visas. Four years earlier, it was revealed that possible Iranian and Chinese state actors were using fake documents to obtain visas, and some successful applicants may have been international fugitives.

For and Against

Many countries, including the US, have used this program to successfully attract foreign investment, particularly in countries which have high value passports - like members of the European Union.

However, many of those European nations have begun winding back their programs. Ireland and Spain ended their Golden visa programs facing citizens' protests about the rising house prices, partly due to the influx of foreign investor citizens.

The programs have also been known to attract criminal interest, such as money laundering, tax evasion and corruption. The EU became concerned that Russian leaders and business figures who are subject to sanctions after the Russian invasion of Ukraine would buy golden passports to circumnavigate these restrictions.