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As the Trump administration expands its immigration crackdown nationwide, President Trump is simultaneously creating new pathways for wealthy noncitizens to obtain U.S. visas. Earlier this week, Trump officially launched a program allowing affluent visitors to fast-track permission to live and work in the United States. For a $1 million payment, applicants can receive a so-called Trump Gold Card, which promises to speed up U.S. residency applications "in record time." The administration says it will also soon offer a $5 million "Trump Platinum Card" that would allow participants to avoid paying some U.S. taxes. The announcement comes as new rules published this week would require visitors from 42 countries in the visa waiver program to submit up to five years of social media history, along with phone numbers, email addresses and biometric data.
Shev Dalal-Dheini, director of government relations at the American Immigration Lawyers Association, says the changes show that "if you're wealthy, if you can pay to play, then you're welcome to come to the United States. But if you're not — if you're coming as a tourist, or you're coming to seek humanitarian protection — then we're going to make it much tougher for you to come here and really put a lot of hurdles along the way in the guise of security and vetting."
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Republicans make up a majority of the Indiana Senate, but more than a dozen voted against President Trump's new political map, which aimed to add Republicans in Congress.
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Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, has overseen President Trump's immigration policy, including efforts to detain more immigrants and pause visa applications.
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President Trump's failure to ram through a Republican-friendly House map was a new sign that his iron grip on the party has slipped, and was likely to reverberate nationally.
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Tina Peters was sentenced for a Colorado state crime that the president has no ability to pardon. President Trump has no legal power to free her from prison.
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Republicans hold an overwhelming majority in the Indiana Senate, but more than a dozen of them defied the president's wishes, voting against a map aimed at adding Republicans in Congress.
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The effort appears to be a new phase in the Trump administration's push to oust President Nicolás Maduro.
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A grand jury has refused to indict New York attorney general Letitia James, the second panel to refuse to do so, dealing a major setback to President Trump.
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The tanker was headed eastward and had recently carried Iranian oil. The seizure is an escalation in President Trump's military pressure campaign against Venezuela's leader, Nicolás Maduro.
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