“The Supreme Court’s order on the Trump Travel Ban should allow an EB-5 investor to be admitted, as such an investor has ties to a U.S. entity, a permissible group which the Court said could not be subject to the ban. My client reported that the Consul agreed with my opinion.” – Martin Lawler

In January, Donald Trump signed an executive order that was created under the rationale that the attempt will “keep terrorists out.” In lieu of the recent humanitarian crisis going on in Syria, the new policy effectively simplifies the United States policy for handling refugees by creating a ban on Muslims traveling to the US from parts of the Middle East and North Africa. The first version of the policy included the following countries: Iraq,Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Donald Trump later released an amended version of the policy which removes the country of Iraq from the list because of, ““commitments from the Government of Iraq.” Trump stated, “We are establishing new vetting measures, to keep radical Islamic terrorists out of the United States of America.” Or as he put even more simply, “We don’t want ’em here. We want to ensure we aren’t admitting into our country the very threats that our men and women are fighting overseas.” From the perspective of the US immigration department, the new policy seems to be a radically simple stance for the filtering of people trying to immigrate to the United States, but for a human being trying to immigrate to the United States the policy can remove all hope for some, and make it extremely complicated for others. Martin Lawler a San Francisco based immigration expert knows first hand  what the implications of the travel ban are for arriving to America, as he deals with the subject on a daily basis.

 

Martin Lawler weighs in on the Muslim travel ban as it pertains to EB-5 Visas

One of the most striking aspects of the policy is that it is formed under the sweeping generalization of all muslims from certain locations. According to Martin Lawler, this policy even affects people applying for EB-5 visas to America. An EB-5 visa or Employment Based Visa was started in 1992 as part of the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa Program. The EB-5 visa is a United States immigration policy that allows for affluent immigration investors to immigrate to the United States if they invest over $1,000,000 dollars in a United States business and if that business will employ at least 10 United States citizens. “One of my EB-5 clients appeared for his immigrant visa interview the day before yesterday at an American Consul in the Middle East. The Consul was very cordial and professional, and told my client that his EB-5 application was thoroughly documented and appeared to be approvable, but the visa could not be issued until “administrative processing” was complete.” He also stated that the client was given a list of questions to answer that could only be described as “extreme vetting.” A few notable questions on the list are detailed below:

  • List all countries you have traveled to (other than your country of residence) in the last 15 years. For each trip, provide details for locations visited, dates visited, source of funds, and length of stay.
  • List all of your previous and/or current passport number(s) and country of issuance.
  • List all of your addresses during the last 15 years, if different from your current address, including dates of residence. Please include street address, city, and country.
  • List all phone numbers, email addresses, and social media account user names (e.g. IMO, Telegram, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Viber, Snapchat, etc.) you have used in the last 5 years. Do NOT provide any account passwords!

The full list of questions that were required to establish an EB-5 visa can be found on Martin Lawler’s website here. It is clear that the level of information required for entry is beyond a casual vetting since it includes all of the social media accounts for a hopeful United States immigrant. The policy is very indicative of a new era in security where social media data is used as a means of measurement about the person, and shows the level of scrutiny that Muslim immigrants will be subject to.

Martin Lawler’s example of an EB-5 client being vetted for entry into the country shows the policy paints with a broad stroke and affects not just refugees or “your tired, your poor” but also the affluent immigrant hopefuls who are either muslim or are from one of the countries listed on the travel ban.

 

Lawler & Lawler client interaction with the EB-5 Visa shows the extent of the travel ban

Martin’s law office, Lawler & Lawler, has had recent experience with the ban. “My EB-5 client, who appeared for his immigrant visa interview the day before yesterday, gave the Consul a letter I prepared. It argued that the Supreme Court’s order on the Trump Travel Ban should allow an EB-5 investor to be admitted, as such an investor has ties to a U.S. entity, a permissible group which the Court said could not be subject to the ban. My client reported that the Consul agreed with my opinion.”

 

Although the consul agreed with the opinion, the client was still subject to the extra hoops that they must go through if they hope to immigrate to the United States. Martin Lawler’s example shows the complexity that this policy creates for a broad range of immigrants to America, although the travel ban was created under the banner of fighting terrorism, the policies create a level of scrutiny towards immigrants even if there is no real legal standing to prevent them from entering the country under EB-5 visa regulations.

 

EB-5 Conclusions with Martin Lawler

The rationale for the creation of the ban, and the explanation for why it was going to happen seems to be inconsistent with the reality that it is imposing on immigrants to the United States. Martin Lawler elaborated on this, “The first travel ban was issued in January and the second in March. The necessary time needed to create the new vetting procedures has passed and they seem to be in place. Thus, the ban is no longer needed and the purpose of the ban is moot, unless the Trump administration can demonstrate otherwise. Without further information, it seems all this is now just media grandstanding.”

One thing is clear, the travel ban makes it difficult for any muslim to enter America even if they are affluent and applying under the EB-5 visa program.