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Congressional Research Service, Lawsuit Raise Doubt over EB-5 Extension

Wait! Maybe Rep. Kristi Noem didn’t vote to extend EB-5 without reform again two weeks ago!

At the request of an unnamed member or members of Congress, the Congressional Research Service last week issued a report that suggests we could interpret the continuing resolution that extended federal spending authority past Election Day to not encompass EB-5. David North of the EB-5-skeptic Center for Immigration Studies explains that the continuing resolution covers appropriated funds but may not cover the fees that finance EB-5.

The question is very murky; a Texas non-profit has filed suit to clear that murk. Urban Equality Now, which has sued previously over the gerrymandering of EB-5 “Targeted Employment Areas” that allows rich developers to cash in on EB-5 visa investment money in relatively well-0ff neighborhoods that don’t need the economic assistance, has filed a new lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of North Texas to stop the EB-5 program and resolve this budget question.

I’d speculate that continuing budget resolution will run out on December 9 and Congress will approve new federal funding with clearer EB-5 direction before the courts figure out the Texas lawsuit. But if Rep. Paula Hawks presses the EB-5 issue at today’s noon debate with Rep. Noem at the Sioux Falls Rotary, maybe Rep. Noem can appeal to this lawsuit to say that she didn’t really vote to extend EB-5 again.