by John Hayward at Breitbart
Peter Schweizer’s new book The Invisible Coup: How American Elites and Foreign Powers Use Immigration as a Weapon details how a seemingly innocuous program to entice foreign investors became a massive operation for laundering foreign donations to American politicians, primarily Democrats.
The plot revolved around a program established by the 1990 Immigration Act called the Employment-Based Fifth Preference (EB-5) visa. It was ostensibly intended to encourage foreign investors to put big money into American business and job creation.
Foreigners who invested at least $1.05 million (or $800,000 in certain economically-distressed areas) and created at least ten American jobs were issued a green card and permanent resident status. Applicants under this fast-tracked program were subjected to very little scrutiny.
In practice, the EB-5 program became a gateway to outrageous levels of foreign interference in American politics, and there are good reasons to believe it was designed that way from its inception.
Schweizer’s account of the EB-5 visa bubbles with names familiar to any student of the massive Clinton fundraising scandals from the 90s. The godmother of the program was Maria Hsia, an influential Chinese-American linked to the Riady family of Indonesia and its huge Lippo Group financial institution, one of whose executives was John Huang.
All of those people became central figures in the…
Continue Reading