Latest news with #Buffalo-based
Calgary Herald
5 days ago
- Politics
- Calgary Herald
Trump's $5-million 'gold card' visa might never happen
Article content The Supreme Court has established that Congress has 'plenary power' over immigration and has suggested in multiple instances that Congress has supremacy over the executive branch in establishing immigration policy, said George Fishman, senior legal fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies and a deputy general counsel at the Department of Homeland Security in the first Trump administration. Article content However, Fishman added that in one 1950 decision, the court also said that 'when Congress prescribes a procedure concerning the admissibility of aliens, it is not dealing alone with a legislative power. It is implementing an inherent executive power.' The decision also didn't specifically say the executive branch could act without congressional authorization. Article content Article content 'I'm very dubious it can be done without an act of Congress,' Fishman said. Article content Congress hasn't changed visa categories in 35 years and has at times pushed back when previous administrations took steps that they thought impeded their powers. Republicans in Congress argued that the executive branch had overstepped its authority when President Barack Obama sought to give legal status to children brought to the U.S. and when Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas expanded parole programs without congressional approval under Biden. Article content 'It would be hard to reconcile those views with the ability of the administration to create a new green card,' Fishman said. Article content Cato Institute's Alex Nowrasteh said the current Republican-held Congress is especially resistant to creating pathways for residency or citizenship. Nowrasteh was a witness at a June 25 House Judiciary subcommittee hearing, 'Restoring Integrity and Security to the Visa Process,' where the gold card didn't come up and Republicans called for further scrutiny of the existing visa process. Article content Article content 'There's zero appetite for people in Congress to consider this right now,' Nowrasteh said. Article content The legality issues have led to immigration attorneys warning clients to steer clear of the gold card. Article content Philadelphia-based immigration attorney Ron Klasko said he has had some clients from Canada and Europe express interest in the visa, but he has told them there is little use in even signing up for the waiting list until the path becomes clearer. Article content 'Why would I want to do that before I know if it's a law, what the law says, what the requirements are, what information the form is going to ask me for, what documents I have to produce, what the terms and conditions are,' Klasko said. Article content Klasko also warned that more needs to be done to clarify how these wealthy people would be taxed under this new form of residency. Article content Buffalo-based immigration attorney Rosanna Berardi said she was among the tens of thousands who have signed up on the website to learn more. However, she was dubious that any more would come from signing up after the administration has not provided clarity on the plan for creating a new visa category. She added that the White House has also not specified whether this would be a new visa category or replace an existing visa for foreign investors who create jobs. Article content 'This administration keeps forgetting that the executive branch doesn't make the law,' Berardi said. Article content Lutnick's comments have offered some lofty ideas of what the gold card program could look like. Article content In a March interview on the All-In podcast, he said that the funds raised by sales would pay off the country's $1.3-trillion annual deficit, or about 260,000 visa sales. He also said that eventually the program could effectively pay off the entirety of the U.S. debt, more than $36 trillion, meaning more than 7 million people would need to sign up for visas. Article content He told the Financial Times in mid-June that 70,000 people have signed up to learn more about the card. Article content Lutnick has said the idea for the gold card came from hedge fund manager John Paulson, who spoke with Trump and Lutnick about the project. Elon Musk's U.S. DOGE Service played a key role in organizing that effort, including standing up a website that advertises 'The Trump Card Is Coming,' according to records obtained by The Washington Post and a Department of Homeland Security official familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share internal discussions. The website instructs visitors to enter their name, email address and region to 'be notified the moment access opens.' Article content Article content In mid-April, DOGE representatives Edward Coristine and Marko Elez asked employees at DHS and the State Department to quickly set up a system that would pass gold card visa applicants' data among different parts of DHS, the records show. The data that would be transferred was sensitive, detailing applicants' names, birth dates, places of residence and other personal information, the records show. Article content The DHS team finished setting up its requested data transfer pipeline in less than a week, the employee said, then settled in to wait for applicants. But as of late June, not a single application had come along on a webpage for the visa application, which isn't public, the employee said. Article content Lutnick told Axios in late May that the website would roll out in a week, and details about the visas would come out 'over a matter of the next weeks; not months, weeks.' Article content Article content Around the world, other countries that had once offered similar costly green cards have reversed course after controversies over granting rich people unfettered residency and the fallout from that, said Kate Hooper, a senior policy analyst for the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute. For instance, Spain ended its golden visa after an explosion in housing prices fuelled by wealthy buyers. Article content 'There's been a bit of a backlash to that … the optics of selling citizenship and worries about due diligence,' Hooper said. Article content Hooper, who studies the gold visa programs globally, said the U.S. proposal would be the most expensive one out there if it were feasible. Wealthy foreigners who want to spend less could easily acquire a visa to several Caribbean island nations for a fraction of the cost Trump has proposed. For instance, Antigua and Barbuda requires a contribution of $230,000 to a national development fund for a visa.
Edmonton Journal
5 days ago
- Politics
- Edmonton Journal
Trump's $5-million 'gold card' visa might never happen
Article content The Supreme Court has established that Congress has 'plenary power' over immigration and has suggested in multiple instances that Congress has supremacy over the executive branch in establishing immigration policy, said George Fishman, senior legal fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies and a deputy general counsel at the Department of Homeland Security in the first Trump administration. Article content However, Fishman added that in one 1950 decision, the court also said that 'when Congress prescribes a procedure concerning the admissibility of aliens, it is not dealing alone with a legislative power. It is implementing an inherent executive power.' The decision also didn't specifically say the executive branch could act without congressional authorization. Article content Article content 'I'm very dubious it can be done without an act of Congress,' Fishman said. Article content Congress hasn't changed visa categories in 35 years and has at times pushed back when previous administrations took steps that they thought impeded their powers. Republicans in Congress argued that the executive branch had overstepped its authority when President Barack Obama sought to give legal status to children brought to the U.S. and when Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas expanded parole programs without congressional approval under Biden. Article content 'It would be hard to reconcile those views with the ability of the administration to create a new green card,' Fishman said. Article content Cato Institute's Alex Nowrasteh said the current Republican-held Congress is especially resistant to creating pathways for residency or citizenship. Nowrasteh was a witness at a June 25 House Judiciary subcommittee hearing, 'Restoring Integrity and Security to the Visa Process,' where the gold card didn't come up and Republicans called for further scrutiny of the existing visa process. Article content Article content 'There's zero appetite for people in Congress to consider this right now,' Nowrasteh said. Article content The legality issues have led to immigration attorneys warning clients to steer clear of the gold card. Article content Philadelphia-based immigration attorney Ron Klasko said he has had some clients from Canada and Europe express interest in the visa, but he has told them there is little use in even signing up for the waiting list until the path becomes clearer. Article content 'Why would I want to do that before I know if it's a law, what the law says, what the requirements are, what information the form is going to ask me for, what documents I have to produce, what the terms and conditions are,' Klasko said. Article content Klasko also warned that more needs to be done to clarify how these wealthy people would be taxed under this new form of residency. Article content Buffalo-based immigration attorney Rosanna Berardi said she was among the tens of thousands who have signed up on the website to learn more. However, she was dubious that any more would come from signing up after the administration has not provided clarity on the plan for creating a new visa category. She added that the White House has also not specified whether this would be a new visa category or replace an existing visa for foreign investors who create jobs. Article content 'This administration keeps forgetting that the executive branch doesn't make the law,' Berardi said. Article content Lutnick's comments have offered some lofty ideas of what the gold card program could look like. Article content In a March interview on the All-In podcast, he said that the funds raised by sales would pay off the country's $1.3-trillion annual deficit, or about 260,000 visa sales. He also said that eventually the program could effectively pay off the entirety of the U.S. debt, more than $36 trillion, meaning more than 7 million people would need to sign up for visas. Article content He told the Financial Times in mid-June that 70,000 people have signed up to learn more about the card. Article content Lutnick has said the idea for the gold card came from hedge fund manager John Paulson, who spoke with Trump and Lutnick about the project. Elon Musk's U.S. DOGE Service played a key role in organizing that effort, including standing up a website that advertises 'The Trump Card Is Coming,' according to records obtained by The Washington Post and a Department of Homeland Security official familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share internal discussions. The website instructs visitors to enter their name, email address and region to 'be notified the moment access opens.' Article content Article content In mid-April, DOGE representatives Edward Coristine and Marko Elez asked employees at DHS and the State Department to quickly set up a system that would pass gold card visa applicants' data among different parts of DHS, the records show. The data that would be transferred was sensitive, detailing applicants' names, birth dates, places of residence and other personal information, the records show. Article content The DHS team finished setting up its requested data transfer pipeline in less than a week, the employee said, then settled in to wait for applicants. But as of late June, not a single application had come along on a webpage for the visa application, which isn't public, the employee said. Article content Lutnick told Axios in late May that the website would roll out in a week, and details about the visas would come out 'over a matter of the next weeks; not months, weeks.' Article content Article content Around the world, other countries that had once offered similar costly green cards have reversed course after controversies over granting rich people unfettered residency and the fallout from that, said Kate Hooper, a senior policy analyst for the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute. For instance, Spain ended its golden visa after an explosion in housing prices fuelled by wealthy buyers. Article content 'There's been a bit of a backlash to that … the optics of selling citizenship and worries about due diligence,' Hooper said. Article content Hooper, who studies the gold visa programs globally, said the U.S. proposal would be the most expensive one out there if it were feasible. Wealthy foreigners who want to spend less could easily acquire a visa to several Caribbean island nations for a fraction of the cost Trump has proposed. For instance, Antigua and Barbuda requires a contribution of $230,000 to a national development fund for a visa.
Business Journals
13-06-2025
- Business
- Business Journals
Rich Products tops Buffalo's private company list with $5.6B revenue
A Buffalo-based food manufacturer is the region's top-ranked private company in 2025, earning over $5 billion in revenue last year.
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Appeals court rejects NFR effort to re-open Centennial Park eminent domain case
A state appellate court has again rejected a request from a South End land owner to overturn its decision in an eminent domain proceeding seeking 10 to 12 acres of land for the proposed Centennial Park project. The request, by Niagara Falls Redevelopment (NFR) and an affiliated company, Blue Apple Properties Inc., came in response to efforts by city officials to reclaim ownership of approximately 5 of the roughly 12 acres of property subject to the eminent domain ruling because NFR never properly gained title to what was previously the 10th Street Park. NFR filed a motion in the Appellate Division Fourth Department of New York State Supreme Court in March asking the justices there to review and reverse their July 28, 2023, unanimous ruling that the city was justified in seeking to use eminent domain to take up to 12 acres of undeveloped land for the park and events center project. Lawyers for NFR had argued that the claim by the city that it already owns some of the proposed park property, based on newly discovered evidence, 'probably would have produced a different result' if the appeals court justices had been aware of it in 2023. 'Because this new evidence is manifestly inconsistent with the facts on which (the July 2023 ruling) is based, (NFR) respectfully asks this Court to vacate (the ruling),' NFR's lead lawyer, John Horn, wrote in a filing with the Fourth Department. Horn also asked the appeals court to 'reject and annul' findings by the Niagara Falls Common Council that the proposed park project would be a public benefit or serve a public purpose. In a blunt, but unsigned, three-sentence decision released on Friday, the court wrote, 'Now upon reading and filing the papers with respect to the motion, and due deliberation having been had thereon, it is hereby ordered that the motion is denied.' Mayor Robert Restaino did not comment on the appeals court ruling. A spokesman for NFR could not immediately be reached for comment. In their original ruling, the Appellate Division justices wrote that 'the city's determination to exercise its eminent domain power 'is rationally related to a conceivable public purpose.'' The justices said they came to that conclusion because the Centennial Park proposal would develop parkland and other recreational space as well as 'revitalizing and redeveloping a longstanding vacant lot, which was a blight on the city.' The Niagara Falls City Council has directed the city's corporation counsel to 'take all necessary steps to commence any and all legal action ... in order to declare the transfer of (10th Street Playground, 907 Falls St.) null and void.' The city's special counsel for the Centennial Park project, the Buffalo-based law firm of Hodgson Russ, has filed what is known as a quiet title action to reclaim the former parkland. A quiet title action is a legal proceeding where a lawsuit is filed to establish clear ownership of a property. The city claims the transfer of the playground property in 2004 was not properly completed. NFR has insisted the property was 'lawfully' transferred, and is fighting the quiet title action.
Yahoo
04-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Thruway authority hires firm for study of Grand Island bridges
ALBANY — The New York State Thruway Authority has selected a Buffalo-based engineering firm to lead a $1.6 million federally funded study of the four Grand Island bridges and the I-190 corridor. During a meeting on Tuesday, the Thruway Authority's board of directors unanimously agreed to hire WSP USA, Inc., formerly Parsons Brinckherhoff, to conduct a planning and environmental linkages study. The assessment will include, 'an analysis of the bridges against the regional transportation network's current and future needs, an investigation of feasible project alternatives and an examination of social, economic and environmental conditions.' In addition, the study will involve a Life Cycle Cost Analysis and result in the development of a forecast for future toll revenue. The study will be conducted under a two-year contract that includes an option for a third year and will be performed in cooperation with the Greater Buffalo Regional Transportation Council, a metropolitan planning organization covering Erie and Niagara counties. The finished product is expected to help guide future maintenance, rehabilitation and potential reconstruction activities involving the bridges and the thruway corridor. The cost of the study will be covered under a planning grant awarded to the Thruway Authority last year under the Bridge Investment Program, which is funded through the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure and Jobs Law. In an announcement on the awarding of the grant, Thruway Authority Executive Director Frank G. Hoare noted that the original Grand Island bridges were built in the 1930s and have become 'increasingly expensive to maintain due to both their age and structural complexity.' He said at the time that the funding would allow the authority to 'enhance the safety and improve the efficiency and reliability of the bridges for all who travel over them for generations to come.' The Grand Island Bridges serve more than 47.5 million vehicles annually and are part of a commercial corridor that links an estimated $23.7 billion in US-Canada freight trade. They are also the only connection points between the 21,000 residents of Grand Island and the mainland.
