SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
I’m Scott Detrow, and this is TRUMP’S TERMS from NPR.
(SOUNDBITE OF MONTAGE)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We’re going to be doing all sorts of things nobody ever thought was even possible.
MIKE JOHNSON: President Trump has brought back strength to the White House.
VICE PRESIDENT JD VANCE: We can’t just ignore the president’s desires.
TRUMP: This will be an entirely different country in a short period of time.
DETROW: Every episode, we bring you one of NPR’s latest stories about the 47th president and how he is trying to remake the federal government. Today’s story starts right after this.
(SOUNDBITE OF EMANUEL KALLINS AND STEPHEN TELLER’S “ESCAPE MAZE”)
A MARTÍNEZ, BYLINE: I’m A Martínez. The Trump administration says its pricey Gold Cards will go on sale soon. That’s the quicker, easier version of the green card that would allow foreigners to live and work in the United States. As NPR’s Tovia Smith reports, many multimillionaires seem unfazed by the $5 million price tag.
TOVIA SMITH, BYLINE: To Trump, it’s a no-brainer. Why would the U.S. basically give away green cards, he says, when you can sell them instead? And it seems the price may be just fine with some jet-setters looking to make the U.S. their home or one of their homes.
MATTHEW KOLKEN: I mean, $5 million to these people, it’s their annual jet fuel cost. It means nothing to them.
SMITH: Matthew Kolken, an immigration lawyer from Buffalo, New York, has Canadian clients asking about the Gold Card. If anything, Kolken says, the Gold Card may be even underpriced, given the time and hassle it would save these deep-pocketed globetrotters.
KOLKEN: It allows them to be able to potentially buy their way into the United States. They would just be able to throw down their AMEX Black Card.
MONA SHAH: I have one from India and one from Pakistan, two from Egypt and a colleague from Russia who has a few from Russia.
SMITH: Immigration attorney Mona Shah says most of her interested clients are drawn to the idea of a relatively hassle-free way to live and work in the U.S. and the better tax benefits, since Trump has said Gold Card holders would be taxed only on their U.S. earnings. Shah says many also love the flex of being able to flash their Gold Card to get what Trump has described as privileges-plus. The president hasn’t elaborated on what that means, and the White House did not respond to NPR’s detailed questions. But Shah says clients are imagining VIP perks like a special fast-track lane through airport customs and more.
SHAH: They seem to believe that this is going to be some kind of red-carpet visa - they’ll be treated like a VIP everywhere.
SMITH: Whether any such perks come with the Gold Card remains unclear, some three months after President Trump first started hyping the idea.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
TRUMP: The Gold Card. Remember the words, the Gold Card. Somebody said, can we call it the Trump Gold Card? I said, if it helps, use the name Trump. I’ll give it to you for free.
SMITH: In fact, a government website is now using the name trumpcard.gov, and Trump has since revealed a sample card with his picture on the front. The president says he hopes to sell a million of them, which would bring in some $5 trillion to help pay down the budget deficit or the national debt. But many see that figure as wildly optimistic. Similar Gold Card programs have ended recently in multiple other countries over concerns, including money laundering and illicit funding. Trump has said all applicants will be carefully vetted, but he didn’t do much to allay concerns when a reporter asked if Russian oligarchs, for example, would be eligible for Gold Cards.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
TRUMP: Yeah, possibly. Hey, I know some Russian oligarchs that are very nice people.
SMITH: Another challenge for the administration is how to deal with the optics of rolling out the red carpet to welcome uber-wealthy, privileged foreigners at the same time as it’s arresting and deporting large numbers of immigrants of lesser means. But Gold Card supporters say special lanes for wealthy businesspeople already exist, like the EB-5 visa, where foreigners invest some $1 million in a business that creates jobs. John Lettieri, with the think tank Economic Innovation Group, sees the Gold Card as a good way to create a more merit-based immigration system.
JOHN LETTIERI: Right now we grant visas on a lottery basis that’s totally at random and blind to attracting and retaining the best and brightest people from around the world, and we need to be more conducive to that kind of talent if we want to maintain the edge that we have right now.
SMITH: Trump administration officials declined to comment on how the president can legally launch his Gold Card program without approval from Congress. Trump insists it’s, quote, “totally legal,” but immigration lawyers and even some Republican lawmakers doubt that.
Tovia Smith, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF EMANUEL KALLINS AND STEPHEN TELLER’S “ESCAPE MAZE”)
DETROW: And before we wrap up, a thank you to our NPR+ supporters who hear each show without sponsored messages, and, of course, who help protect independent journalism. If you are not a supporter yet, you can visit plus.npr.org to find out how you can get a ton of podcast perks across dozens of NPR shows like bonus episodes, exclusive merchandise and more. Again, that’s plus.npr.org.
I’m Scott Detrow. Thanks for listening to TRUMP’S TERMS from NPR.
(SOUNDBITE OF EMANUEL KALLINS AND STEPHEN TELLER’S “ESCAPE MAZE”) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
