On September 19, 2025, President Donald Trump issued an executive order creating the Gold Card Visa Program, which would enable noncitizens who contribute considerable amounts of money ($1 million individually or $2 million corporately) to gain hastened eligibility for an immigrant visa, though still following national security and public safety review. The announcement sparked public concern as people wondered whether the president had the authority to establish a novel immigration category, given that immigration policy-making lies exclusively within Congress’s constitutional powers. Many years of existing precedent reinforces the idea that other branches may not infringe on Congress’s lawmaking authority to preserve the importance of checks and balances. Because the wealth-based immigration category created under the Gold Card Visa falls outside statutory authority, the Court should deem the President’s action unconstitutional.
Read MoreThe immigration policy of the United States has shifted in the face of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Title 42, a rarely-invoked section of the United States Code created in 1944, was revitalized by the Trump and Biden administrations to swiftly expel migrants due to alleged fears of the spread of COVID-19. [1] Despite the policy’s revitalization, however, current legal challenges to Title 42 show that there is no legal basis for such expulsions within its language. In particular, the disproportionate application of the policy at the southern border of the United States serves as evidence of racist motivations behind Title 42 expulsions.
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