Eduardo Saverin is the son of a Brazilian millionaire.

His father - after learning his son was on a list of targets for kidnappers - moved him to the safety of the United States where he became an American citizen.

Saverin attended Harvard where he ended up co-founding Facebook with Mark Zuckerberg. Saverin several years ago moved to Singapore. In the months leading up to the public sale of Facebook stock that would make him a billionaire, Saverin renounced his American citizenship.

In doing so, he will reduce his tax liability significantly from earnings on his shares in Facebook that made him a billionaire. Saverin insists his decision had nothing to do with tax implications. Then why didn’t he drop his American citizenship when he moved to Singapore in 2009? Timing, as they say, is everything.

And all America did was keep him safe, educate him, and make it possible for him to become a billionaire.

Now consider the 450 Chiplote employees - half of the company’s workforce in Minnesota.

They are illegals who lost their jobs when the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) conducted an audit of the company’s employee records. Chipolte contends they used the federal government’s E-Verify system to double check the status of the workers.

The illegal workers paid taxes and even paid into Social Security which they can never benefit from since they aren’t legal American citizens,

Yes, they are here illegally. Yes, there needs to be enforcement of our immigrant laws. And, yes there needs to be an honest debate about our reliance and need for foreign workers at all levels of our economy.

But there is one glaring injustice that the federal government is promoting that should be an affront to all of us. Rich foreigners get preferential treatment and express service when it comes to American citizenship.

Uncle Sam has a program dubbed EB-5. For $1 million invested into an American firm that creates a minimum number of jobs, a rich foreigner can get a visa and be fast tracked for citizenship for their self and immediate family. The threshold drops to $500,000 in designated economically stressed areas such as Manteca which has an EB-5 project in the form of the envisioned 1,500-home Trails of Manteca subdivision on the western end of Woodward Avenue being pushed by a Bay Area development firm.

Congress can’t come up with a realistic, workable, and enforceable immigration policy involving poor foreigners but it rolls out the red carpet for rich foreigners.

The principles of equity that this nation was founded on don’t matter when it comes to money.

Illegal immigration should not be tolerated nor should citizenship go to the highest bidder. On the flip side we need an immigration policy that accommodates the needs of this country and gives those looking to work for a better life the opportunity to come here.

Instead we have wacko laws that once we educate “illegals” we deport them regardless of their ability to contribute to the American economy. The same goes for those here on limited visas to purse education in critical careers such as engineering and medicine. Even though they often want to stay, this country shows them the door and they take their talent fostered and expanded by American dollars through higher education to other countries to chip away at our economy.

But if you come to America with at least $1 million you can buy your way to American citizenship

We get angry at opportunists such as Saverin who we believe have played America’s good graces for their personal advantage and then walk away from the USA when it is to their advantage to do so.

That anger should really be directed at our own federal government for creating immigration policies where money talks and the rest of us get walked on.



This column is the opinion of managing editor, Dennis Wyatt, and does not necessarily represent the opinion of The Bulletin or Morris Newspaper Corp. of CA.  He can be contacted at dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com or 209-249-3519.