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"A Green Card holder (permanent resident) is someone who has been granted authorization to live and

work in the United States on a permanent basis. . .You can become a permanent resident several
different ways. Most individuals are sponsored by a family member or employer in the United States.
Other individuals may become permanent residents through refugee or asylum status or other
humanitarian programs. In some cases, you may be eligible to file for yourself…Any person not a citizen
of the United States who is residing the in the U.S. under legally recognized and lawfully recorded
permanent residence as an immigrant. Also known as "Permanent Resident Alien," "Resident Alien
Permit Holder," and "Green Card Holder."

Eb-5 Investor Jailed for selling to Chinese Navy—national security theat


David North (Fellow of the Center for Immigration Studies, is an internationally recognized authority on immigration policy, examined legal, illegal, and temporary migration, as well as immigration law enforcement and refugee resettlement policies, for a variety of governmental and non-governmental agencies, both in the US and overseas. North has

testified frequently before the Senate and the House as well as before every federal immigration policy commission since the 1970’s. His analysis and commentary have appeared on CNN, in the Economist, the Melbourne Age (Aus.), the Auckland Star (NZ), and the International Labour Organization. Mr. North has been a guest on national broadcasts and cable news programs, from

Fox News to NPR.) On December 3, 2018, 12-3-2018, "EB-5 Investor Jailed for Sales to Chinese Navy — and a Mea Culpa," CIS.org,
https://cis.org/North/EB5-Investor-Jailed-Sales-Chinese-Navy-and-Mea-Culpa

Some months ago I wrote a posting about what seemed to be a silly set of federal charges against a Chinese national in Massachusetts who had
secured an EB-5 visa. The charges did not sound serious; he had sold a bunch of mid-tech devices, costing no more than $1,500 each, to a
Chinese university. These were hydrophones that are sold on the open market here in the States, and can be exported to individuals in China —
but not to the Chinese military, a seemingly bizarre way to manage military exports. The exporter had not secured the licenses needed for such
a transaction. The hydrophones can be used to detect movements of fish — or submarines — under water. The university concerned,
Northwestern Polytechnic University (NPU), is said to be linked to the People's Liberation Army's Navy, though on a map, NPU looks like it is
more than 500 miles from any navigable body of water. The whole thing did not seem to make sense and, frankly, I had forgotten about it until
a reader asked if there had been any new developments in the case. She may have known the answer, but her brief note did not suggest that.
The answer to her question is a resounding "yes" and the case's serious underpinnings have since come to light in court proceedings
documented in the PACER system as case 1:18-cr-10205-DJC. Among other things: The courts found the charges serious enough
to send Shuren Qin into pre-trial detention for more than six months on the grounds he was a flight risk; When he finally
won at a bail hearing, the bond was set at $1.5 million; $500,000 in cash and the rest in real estate owned by his family and friends; An
indictment filed at the end of October said that he "had exported or caused to be exported, among other things,
remotely operated side scan sonar systems, unmanned underwater vehicles, unmanned surface
vehicles, robotic boats and hydrophones." What the federal prosecutors had done initially, apparently, was to use proof that
they had in the hydrophone matter to toss him in jail, while they worked up a far more significant case. Though Qin may be found innocent,
ultimately, it
now sounds like putting Al Capone in prison for income tax violations. Qin had secured his
entrance to the United States by investing in an EB-5 real estate deal in 2014, about which no more is known; he had for the
previous nine years been running Linkocean Technologies LTD, then headquartered in China. More recently, he has run the firm, of which he is
president, from his home in Wellesley, Mass. The firm exported a range of maritime products, but when he was asked by DHS, in connection
with his EB-5 application, about what he shipped he responded, according to the indictment, that he "only" exported instruments that attach to
a buoy. That statement was false, according to the feds, and
he has been charged with visa fraud, along with export
and money laundering violations. I will try to remember to stay in touch with the trial; should he be convicted it will
add a national security case to the long and varied list of crimes committed within the EB-5 (immigrant
investor) program. By the way, the Northwestern Polytechnic University of China, mentioned above, is not to be confused with the
controversial visa mill of the same name, also under Chinese management, in Fremont, Calif. The latter may have been named after the former,
however.
The EB-5 Program is Garbage
David North (Fellow of the Center for Immigration Studies, is an internationally recognized authority on immigration policy, examined legal, illegal, and temporary migration, as well as immigration law enforcement and refugee resettlement policies, for a variety of governmental and non-governmental agencies, both in the US and overseas. North has

testified frequently before the Senate and the House as well as before every federal immigration policy commission since the 1970’s. His analysis and commentary have appeared on CNN, in the Economist, the Melbourne Age (Aus.), the Auckland Star (NZ), and the International Labour Organization. Mr. North has been a guest on national broadcasts and cable news programs, from

Fox News to NPR.) On August 24, 2018, 8-24-20 18, "EB-5 Program Continues to Spew Garbage Behind It," CIS.org, https://cis.org/North/EB5-Program-
Continues-Spew-Garbage-Behind-It

Like an overfilled, uncovered garbage truck driving too fast on a bumpy road, the EB-5 program
continues to spew trash all over the place. Bear in mind that the EB-5 program produces about 1
percent of America's immigrants, no more than 10,000 out of more than a million arrivals a year. Now
look at the current immigration coverage at Law360.com (partially behind a paywall): 30 percent (three
out of 10) of the immigration-related articles shown on August 23, 2018, deal with problems created by
the immigrant investor (EB-5) program. One of these is mundane (a bankruptcy involving EB-5 and a
Florida hotel), but the other two are rather more interesting. The Exotic. One item involves the always
interesting question of how to get your loot, perhaps ill-gotten, out of a country with tight capital
controls (Iran in this case) in such a way as to prove to EB-5 authorities that it really is your money, and
you came by it legitimately. Making that effort, but failing at the staff level, then again at the
administrative judge level, and yet again in the federal district courts, was Batool Sadeghzadeh, an
Iranian woman. The money came to the United States via that likely transit point for such deals, Dubai.
The money came, she said, from, among other sources, the sale of gold coins. Among the many
problems with her documents, noted by the judge, were inconsistent dates for the sales of the coins,
and an invoice which reported at one point the coins were worth a total of 1.1 billion tomans, a form of
Iranian currency, and another time that they equaled a total of 1.1 billion rials, a different unit of Iranian
currency. Why one would carry a government application through three levels of decision-makers with
a glaring error like that puzzles me, but we have seen it before in the EB-5 business; the desire to buy a
U.S. visa must be so strong that it blows away all connections to reality. By the way, if you Google the
question, you will find that one toman equals 10 rials; and that the Iranian currency has been and is now
subject to serious inflation. Perhaps someone should have said something like: "Oops, sorry Your
Honor, I meant dollars not dimes, all those D's must have confused me." Small-Town USA. While that
story has elements of far away places, the other interesting article on EB-5 is a conflict between a small
town in Vermont, and the court-appointed trustee seeking to untangle the massive Vermont EB-5
scandals; i.e., a dispute between two public-sector types. The conflict reminds us of the many state and
local governments that have suffered because of the EB-5 program, with much loss of tax revenues. It is
also one of the sad side-effects of EB-5, a squabble between two good guys — the trustee and the tax
collector — set in motion because of the fraud created by the Vermont EB-5 scandals. One party in this
case is the tiny town where one of the EB-5 ski resorts is located, Jay, whose population is 561. It is such
a small town that its school board budget in a recent year was $726,521 and the annual report of the
town published the names of all of the children in school. The recent Law360 article said that interest
on the back taxes owed by the EB-5 developer was $113,000 and the penalties due were $164,000. So
those two numbers totaled equal $277,000, enough money to run the entire school system for several
months. (Apparently the back taxes per se were paid earlier.) The other party to the case is the court-
appointed trustee, Michael Goldberg. He initially disagreed with the interest calculation, and objected to
the penalties. Fortunately, the town and the trustee settled, without going to court, for all of the
interest claimed and $60,00 in penalties. (There is a good reason for these penalties; it costs much more,
proportionately, to collect back taxes than current taxes.) Although the funds involved in this particular
matter are modest, the settlement called attention to an element of this EB-5 disaster that I have not
seen discussed elsewhere, the possibility that the hard-charging Goldberg may have collected more
from the big firms indirectly involved in this case than needed to meet the real damages, and he may
ultimately need to refund some of the money. I wish some reporter would look into that possibility.

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