AMERICAN SCHEME

This Is the Cynical Truth About Trump and Citizenship

Trump is shutting the door to the poor while inviting anyone willing to fork over a pile of cash their chance at the American Dream.

opinion

Even as the Supreme Court hears the Trump administration’s oral argument to end birthright citizenship on Wednesday, our president will shamelessly continue offering anybody with $1 million or more a shortcut to becoming an American.

In February 2025, one month after issuing his “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship” executive order, which sought to end birthright citizenship in the United States, President Donald Trump announced that he was creating a new immigration category, focused on high-net-worth foreign investors.

The Trump Gold Card program, in fact, reduced the meaning of American citizenship to something that can be bought only by the wealthy and set its value at seven figures.

Applicants must first deposit a $15,000 processing fee with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the same department that rounds up immigrants of more modest means by the hundreds of thousands.

As set forth on the official U.S. government website, TrumpCard.gov, those with enough dough can expect that “visa adjudication will take place on an expedited basis.”

The website adds, “A $1 million gift upon completion of the individual’s vetting is evidence that the individual will substantially benefit the United States.”

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For that sum, a vetted applicant receives a visa in the form of a Trump Gold Card bearing the president’s likeness.

The Statue of Liberty’s torch, upraised to welcome the huddled masses yearning to breathe free, was replaced by an outstretched hand expecting a pile of cash before motioning in a new arrival.

“Receive U.S. residency in record time with the Trump Gold Card,” the website promises.

At the same time, Trump was seeking to deny automatic citizenship, which the Constitution currently bestows on all newborns who take their first breath in the United States.

The Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment states: “All 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.”

To nix that long-held right, Trump is seeking on Wednesday to convince the Supreme Court that the clause does not mean what it in fact says. He wrote on Truth Social that “Birthright Citizenship has to do with the babies of slaves, not Chinese Billionaires who have 56 kids, all of whom ‘become’ American Citizens.”

Everybody agreed that when the 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868, in the aftermath of the Civil War, it was partly to guarantee citizenship for former slaves and their progeny. But there was also the general principle that anyone born in America is, by that very fact, American.

Under Trump’s Gold Card plan, a billionaire with 56 kids needs only to include them in their initial application.

“This will ensure that these family members receive all of the privileges conferred by the Gold Card Program, including expedited processing,” the website explains.

But of course, “each family member is subject to an additional $15,000 DHS processing fee and $1 million gift.”

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Trump just does not want anyone to get in without paying.

Because, if you have the money, Trump is saying: Come on into the land of opportunity.

“America’s opportunities accelerated,” is the Trump Gold Card’s tagline.

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The site features several marketing testimonials to lure wealthy people to immigrate, including one from Trump himself.

“They can invest in America,” the president is quoted as saying. “And we can continue to build the greatest economy on earth.”

There are also some words from now former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, whose ICE troopers have wreaked havoc seeking to round up undocumented immigrants, killing at least two American citizens in the process.

“I think people are going to come because they’ll be in the greatest country in the world,” Noem says.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick offers what might initially seem to be an oxymoron.

“Our immigration system should put Americans first,” he says. “That’s exactly why the Trump Gold Card is a major win for our country.”

But upon applying Trumpian logic that begins with the supremacy of money, it becomes clear that Lutnick is saying that we should forget those seeking freedom and just admit those immigrants who benefit the people who are already here.

America becomes a country club where you buy your way in. All others become unwanted trespassers—even if they are born here.

As Trump seeks to end birthright citizenship, it is worth noting that his own grandmother was four months pregnant when she and his grandfather were deported from their own country.

His grandfather, Frederick Trump, left their native Bavaria for America before he became draft-eligible and returned after he aged out. Bavarian authorities became aware of this and banished him, despite a written plea in which Frederick was as much a suck-up in 1905 as his grandson’s minions would be more than a century later.

“Most Serene, Most Powerful Prince Regent! Most Gracious Regent and Lord!,” he began. “Why should we be deported? This is very, very hard for a family. What will our fellow citizens think if honest subjects are faced with such a decree—not to mention the great material losses it would incur. I would like to become a Bavarian citizen again.”

He continued, sounding almost as abject as his grandson’s Cabinet secretaries.

“In this urgent situation I have no other recourse than to turn to our adored, noble, wise, and just sovereign lord, our exalted ruler His Royal Highness, highest of all, who has already dried so many tears, who has ruled so beneficially and justly and wisely and softly and is warmly and deeply loved, with the most humble request that the highest of all will himself in mercy deign to allow the applicant to stay in the most gracious Kingdom of Bavaria.”

The petition was denied. The future president’s father was born five months later, on October 11, 1905, in the less gracious borough of the Bronx. He instantly became a U.S. citizen thanks to the 14th Amendment.

Now, 120 years later, Frederick’s grandson is seeking to use his powers as president to deny the American-at-first-breath right to others while essentially selling citizenship to the rich.

Back in June, the Commerce Department reported that 70,000 people were on a waiting list for the Trump Gold Card. Officials did not respond to a Daily Beast request for an update. They also did not respond to a query about the number of people who had received the coveted card.

One known recipient is rapper Nicki Minaj, who has said she immigrated from Trinidad illegally. She has described herself as Trump’s “Number 1 Fan.”

“Finalizing that citizenship paperwork as we speak as per MY wonderful, gracious, charming President,” she posted on Jan. 28. She then added, “Gold Card free of charge.”

The White House insisted that Minaj had not been given an actual Gold Card, only a “memento.” She, in any event, has legal resident status.

In the meantime, Trump had been bad-mouthing the Supreme Court. Whatever they decide, he will continue selling the Trump Gold Card, as if Lady Liberty had set down her torch and held out her hand for cash.

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Michael DalySpecial Correspondent

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