buying citizenship by investing in South Dakota (Brookings: employment, school)

[marmac]

I read in the Daity Star newspaper about all the big dairy farms starting up in South Dakota that are financed by a foreigners under a provision called EB-F
Once a foreign investor is accepted,they are on the way to permanent residency in the US.

Here is a list (all in South Dakota)
Dairy Farm #1-----7 million---4 Korean investors
------------#2-----6.9 million--4 Korean investors
------------#3-----6.8 million--4 Korean investors
------------#4-----2.37 million-1 Korean INVESTOR
------------#5-----3.42 million-3 Korean investors
-----------#6-----6.8 million---4 Korean investors
-----------#7-----delayed
-----------#8-----20 million---4 Korean investors
-----------#9-----40 million---27 Korean investors
-----------#10----12 million---7 Korean investors--1 Netherlander-Canadian
----------#11-----35.4 million--20 Chineese investors(12 Chineese cheese plant)
---------#12-----55 million--(beef packing plant)70 foreign investors are being recruited.

Amazing that all this foreign money is pouring into South Dakota to provide permanent legal residency to the investors, to invest in industries (dairy farms and packing plants) that have historically been the industries most likely to hire and attract illegals in their labor employment.

Something doesn't seem right !

[sugarbeet]

While I don't know all the details, the process to become a permanent resident (for free, other than document fees) probably takes the same amount of time. All of those people could go through this process and SD would get $0. How is this really any different than US investors from other states?? Corporate farming is corporate farming, no matter who is putting in the money.

[marmac]

Why is South Dakota so willing to want foreign investors to get rewarded to invest in industries that hire illegals ?

I sure hope the good people of South Dakota aren't posting 5 years from now "crying" about all the illegals in their community.

[Jammie]

Marmac, that is very interesting. I have never heard this before and it definitely doesn't look good. I don't think I'm speaking only for myself in saying that illegals are not wanted here.

How does this work? Will they automatically become citizens just because of the $$ they're putting in to the state?

[colleeng47]

Originally Posted by Jammie

Marmac, that is very interesting. I have never heard this before and it definitely doesn't look good. I don't think I'm speaking only for myself in saying that illegals are not wanted here.

How does this work? Will they automatically become citizens just because of the $$ they're putting in to the state?

I think it's very dangerous to have foreign investors in industries that provide food. I don't want to sound like a paranoid, but in view of the terroristic threats of our time, this just seems too risky to me.

[Synopsis]

This is really strange. It's like we're selling out our country to the highest bidder.

Nothing is sacred anymore.

[marmac]

Jammie----yes, I was totally surprised as I ( a recently retired dairy farmer in Minnesota) had never hears of it and I do keep up with agriculture issues.

I can assure you it was discussed yesterday morning at the coffee shop where I stopped in to get my Sunday paper.

It was in the --Dairy Star--Saturday Jan 26

It appears all the business people view it as a "win,win" situation.

I guess I fail to see it that way.

[Chris19]

I have mixed opinions. I know that there are some places in Iowa (with the large hog farms) that the illegal problems exists in some of the small towns. Social services sometimes get burdened with the non-English speaking peoples and they often have large families. I think that the immigrants need to come here LEGALLY. If we are having a such of a problem with the immigration process, then immigration reform is needed (one where immigration is earned and applies to all nationalities, not just Hisplanics). We were all immigrants from another place, including Native Americans (coming from Asia thousands of years ago during the ice age). My ancestors were immigrants coming to this area in the late 1800s for similar pursuit of better opportunities as the current immigrants, but they came here legally and had to learn English in the school system and other means to integrate well in society. The investment in our state may provide opportunities too. The topic of foreign investors for farms need to be monitored carefully so that there is minimal negative effects.

The concerns about the foreign investors are understandable, but thinking of this issue requires an open mind to view different perspectives.

[billhd]

I've done some research on this and here's the story.

It's called an EB-5 visa and requires an investment of $500,000 or more and the creation of 10 local jobs. The business investment and jobs created come under intense USCIS attention over several years so one thing you can be sure of - these business are almost guarenteed NOT to be employing illegals.

The visa holders do not have to live in S.D. they just make the investment in S.D. Presumably some of them will live somewhere else with a larger Korean community. So this seems like a good deal for S.D. At least 1480 jobs created based on the numbers you gave above - apparently around the Brookings area - and the immigrants live somewhere else.

You can argue a case against immigration, however given all the other visa categories - a lottery gives out 50,000 visas at random every year regardless of money or skills - family categories allow cousins etc to reunite - this particular scheme actually seems to make sense.

One question I have for those of you in the dairy in S.D. Does this investment make business sense anyway? Although dairy prices are good, oil and feed costs must be hurting.

[marmac]

a question for billhd------why is it whenever there is news of a crackdown on verifying the staus of immigrants, the large dairy farmers state------"who will milk the cows in America?"

Why is it that most of the raids by ICE at places of employment are held at packing plants ?

I take little solace in your belief that it won't be the case at these large dairy farms or packing plants.

History tells us differently !