General
This is an opinion column.
“In the South, at least I know where I stand.”
I hear that a lot among Blacks who migrated north to escape the overt racism they experienced in the South or from those who’ve lived most (if not all) of their lives above the Mason-Dixon line but frequently traveled South, usually to visit family.
I hear it because racism has no borders. In the North, it’s not as plain-as-day blatant as was Jim Crow segregation or racial epithets spewed by some as easily as they breathed. Not as undisguised as a confederate flag windshield decal or bumper sticker. It was sneaky, cloaked behind smiles, wielded in micro-doses. In whispers.
In the South, racism screamed.
At least we knew where we stood.
The new administration screams every day. Every day since it was handed the bullhorn. Screams with veracity and clarity.
At least we know where we stand. Know who’s important to the president and Republicans. Know the administration’s plans and priorities — as plain as the Project 2025 branded across its forehead.
We know who gets a golden ticket — a Donald Trumpka golden ticket. And who gets a rock. Who loses their job. Who loses Medicaid. Who goes hungry. Who gets deported.
Remember the five golden tickets hidden inside the elusive Willie Wonka’s chocolate candy bars in a clandestine effort to find someone to inherit his factory? Lucky children who found them received an exclusive tour (and all the chocolate their tummies could bear), a surreptitious lure to see if they were worthy.
The first four were found by a petulant bunch: edacious Augustus, entitled Veruca, conceited Violet and scatterbrained Mike. (Kiddies whom Trumpka would giddily welcome in the Oval Office as kindreds.) Wonka found them unworthy.
Charlie, a charming and good-natured boy, found the fifth golden ticket, and because of his thoughtful nature, he and his family won ownership of the fantastical factory.
Trumpka isn’t leaving his golden tickets to chance.
The rich certainly get one. If the behemoth bill his House minions squeaked through Congress last week is blessed by the Senate, Trumpka’s billionaire buddies will receive the preponderance of a $4.5 trillion ($450 billion a year for 10 years) tax cut.
Medicaid recipients don’t. The cut will all but certainly be largely paid for by Medicaid recipients, including low-income children.
Loyalists get one, even those clearly underqualified to fill federal leadership roles. It’s as if the administration is seeking to prove its lie that DEI discriminates against better-qualified candidates by discriminating against better-qualified candidates.
Elon Musk has already snatched his golden ticket — the passwords and PIN to federal computer systems and vault. Not to mention his businesses have received $38 billion in government funding. by some estimates.
Federal workers don’t get one. They just get insipid emails telling them they’re either fired or demanding that they justify why they shouldn’t be. The waste and fraud Musk claims to be ferreting out the federal government is found when he looks in the mirror.
Super-rich foreigners get one, too.
When I first saw the video of Trump announcing the creation of a “gold card” offering a “route to citizenship” to any foreigner willing to pay $5 million, I thought it was an AI deep fake. That’s how ludicrous it sounded.
Alas, it was all too real — and not quite as crazy as it initially seems. Turns out several countries have “golden visa” programs offering a path to citizenship, including our northern friends (though that is being tested) as well as the U.K., Spain and Greece.
In the U.S., Congress in 1990 created something similar to Trumpka’s gold card — the EB-5 immigrant investor visa program — to stimulate jobs and the economy. It allows foreigners, spouses and unmarried children under 21 to apply for lawful permanent residence (a green card) if they invest between $800,000 and $1,050,000 in “commercial enterprises” (amount depends on where the business is located) and plan to “create or preserve” 10 permanent full-time jobs for American workers, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service.
An applicant’s investment must remain with the enterprise for a minimum of two years, during which time they’re granted conditional permanent residency. (Gold card requirements, if any, have not been worked out.)
In 2022, the U.S. issued 10,855 permanent visas to applicants who met the qualifications (figure includes spouses and unmarried children under 21), based on U.S. State Department data. In 2023, 9,817 visas were issued.
Trumpka’s gold card would replace EB-5, though at least for now there’s the sticky matter of presidents not legally being able to hand out citizenship like chocolate bars. Eligibility is determined by Congress.
Trumpka, of course, says Congress won’t have to approve gold card applicants.
Chinese nationals accounted for 63% of the visas issued in 2023, with nationals from Asian nations totaling 9 in 10 visas. None were from Russia, which could change under Trumpka, who said Russian oligarchs would be welcome. “I know some Russian oligarchs who are very nice people,” he said.
Of course, Trumpka’s gold card and his massive, unempathetic deportation order make it very clear whom he’ll stand at our borders and welcome and whom he can’t get rid of fast enough.
At least they all know where they stand.
Here’s a thought: If rich immigrants can buy their way to American citizenship, working immigrants — no matter their current documentation status — should be able to, well, work their way to citizenship. To permanent residency.
Imagine if the president announced that any working, taxpaying immigrants who remain continuously and verifiably employed for the next two years (and not broken any laws beyond, say, a speeding ticket) would receive their green card.
Alas, you’d think it was AI. Instead, it would be golden.
Let’s be better tomorrow than we are today. My column appears on AL.com, and digital editions of The Birmingham News, Huntsville Times, and Mobile Press-Register. Tell me what you think at [email protected], and follow me at twitter.com/roysj, Instagram @roysj and BlueSky.
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