The EB-5 visa provides lawful permanent resident (LPR) status to foreign nationals who invest $1 million in the United States, or half that amount in a Targeted Employment Area, and who employ at least 10 U.S. workers. The investment can be made directly or through specially set up and approved Regional Centers which create EB-5 projects in which indirectly created employment can count toward the creation of 10 U.S. Worker jobs.

The CRS report outlines the EB-5 policy issues that are currently under debate in Congress. The report points out that while proponents argue that the U.S. economy benefits from the investments that the program brings, critics contend that the program allows people to buy their way into the United States. According to the report, many EB-5 stakeholders are concerned about delays in processing EB-5 applications, and some question whether U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has the expertise to administer the embedded business components of the program. Others contend that the EB-5 program is susceptible to fraud and threats to national security, as evidenced by the recent, massive fraud allegations against the EB-5 Regional Center at the Jay Peak Resort in Vermont.

The Congressional debate over EB-5 visas will continue ahead of the scheduled September 30, 2016 program expiration. Whether major changes will occur in a Presidential election year remain to be seen.

Here are some of the key findings of the report:

• There are more foreign-born residents in the United States today — 42.4 million in 2014 — than at any other point in history.
• Immigration in recent decades has not been dominated by three or four countries as it was in the early 20th century.
• The proportion of foreign-born residents in the United States was 13.3 percent in 2014, approaching a level last seen in 1910, when the proportion of foreign-born residents reached 14.8 percent.
• In fiscal year 2013, approximately 991,000 aliens gained legal permanent resident (LPR) status, with about 65 percent entering the United States based on family ties.
• There were 9.9 million temporary visas issued in fiscal year 2014, an increase from 2004, when 5.0 million temporary visas were issued.
• Overall, there has been an increase in all temporary, employment-based visa categories since 1994, with the number rising each year except for a brief dip during the recession.
• There were 617,000 employers enrolled in the E-Verify employment eligibility verification system at the end of fiscal year 2015, representing about 10 percent of U.S. employers.
• There were 462,463 formal removals in fiscal year 2015, compared to 30,039 in 1990.
• The population of unauthorized resident aliens grew from 8.5 million to 12.2 million from 2000 to 2007, but then dipped to 11.3 million in 2014.

The CRS report points out that states and localities often have an interest in how the federal government enforces immigration law regarding undocumented immigrants. On the one hand, some cities have implemented policies to limit cooperation with federal enforcement efforts. On the other, states with large populations of undocumented immigrants have sued the federal government, unsuccessfully, seeking stronger enforcement measures through local law.

More recently, states have challenged the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative of the Obama Administration and a similar program, known as DAPA, for undocumented immigrants who are parents of certain lawful permanent residents or of U.S. citizen children. In this litigation, Texas v. United States, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit found that the programs violate the Administrative Procedure Act. The U.S. Supreme Court granted the federal government’s request for certiorari on January 19, 2016, and the high court indicated that when it considers the case later in the year, it will also consider the plaintiffs’ claims that DACA and DAPA violate the Take Care clause of the Constitution.

The CRS report concluded by stating that even if the decisions of the lower courts withstand appeal, the ability of states to challenge alleged “failures” of the federal government to enforce immigration laws is limited.

The report, by Legislative Attorney Alexandra M. Wyatt, presents an overview of the legal debate on birthright citizenship and the issue of children born in the U.S. to alien parents. The report examines the historical development of birthright citizenship, early and modern litigation on the issue and the parameters of the modern legal debate.

The U.S. Constitution provides for birthright citizenship in the Fourteenth Amendment, which states that “[a]ll persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” This is usually interpreted to mean that anyone born in the U.S. automatically becomes a U.S. citizen, even if their parents are undocumented immigrants, as the Supreme Court held in United States v. Wong Kim Ark, an 1898 case.

The CRS report details how many opponents of birthright citizenship favor a narrower interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment’s Citizenship Clause, arguing that the term “jurisdiction” should mean “complete jurisdiction” in the sense of undivided allegiance and mutual consent of sovereign and subject. Some opponents of birthright citizenship also argue that Wong Kim Ark did not squarely address the question of whether the Citizenship Clause requires a broad view of jurisdiction.

Wyatt points out that since the early 1990s, bills have been introduced in Congress to deny citizenship to people born in the U.S. if their parents were not lawful residents. Whether such a statute would pass constitutional muster in the almost certain court challenge should such legislation become law would remain to be seen.