The number of legal immigrants entering the United States has increased nearly 700 percent under President Barack Obama, a new report claims.
According to
The Washington Times, wealthy foreigners have taken advantage of a visa program since Obama took office.
In the 2008 fiscal year, reports the Times, 628 foreign citizens came to the U.S. under the EB-5 program. In 2014, that figure jumped to 5,115.
The number of foreign citizens applying for visas has also risen sharply, from 853 in 2008 to 12,453 in 2014, according to the Times report.
Under the
EB-5 program, foreigners are granted a green card if they invest a minimum of $1 million in the U.S. That figure drops to $500,000 in rural areas or areas with high unemployment. In both instances, the investment must create at least 10 jobs.
The program, however, is prone to fraud and other problems.
"There's been a major promotion," immigration consultant Louis Crocetti Jr. told the Times. "Obviously, it's very popular.
But it's also "one that's riddled with all sorts of problems," Crocetti said. "The agency keeps trying to correct them, but I do believe there's just an increasing demand and increasing education of the investment opportunities."
Three Republicans in the Senate — Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Bob Corker of Tennessee, and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma — asked for a federal audit of the program, reports the Times. The Government Accountability Office is currently performing the audit, which will be finished next summer.
The program has so far stayed mostly under the radar, especially after Obama took an executive action last month that will grant amnesty to as many as 5 million illegal immigrants currently living in the U.S. The
Citizenship and Immigration Services is hiring 1,000 employees and has signed a lease on a building outside of Washington, D.C., to carry out Obama's directive.
Immigration lawyer Kyle Barella told the Times that the EB-5 program is successful because it boosts the American economy.
"When these investors come here, they send their children to school, they pay their taxes, they buy houses," Barella said.
Barella added, however, that Obama's immigration reform is having a negative effect on the program.
"It's frustrating, and it sends a bad message about incentive," Barella said. "Clients are asking, 'Why should I spend this money the legal way when I can just come over here on a tourist visa, overstay, and in 10 years maybe I'll get amnesty?'"