03/27/2015
Watchdog.org: Criminal investigation sought in McAuliffe-Mayorkas dealings
Read the full story: Watchdog.org
A government accountability group says “unanswered questions” warrant a criminal investigation into actions by Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe and others involved in the EB-5 visa program.
Cause of Action called for the investigation after the federal Office of Inspector General confirmed this week that McAuliffe repeatedly lobbied the director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services for visa approvals.
03/26/2015
Washington Free Beacon: Watchdog Asks DOJ to Investigate Reid, McAuliffe Over Immigration Favoritism
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Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) and Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) of Virginia may have illegally facilitated that process at the expense of less politically connected applicants for the same program, according to Cause of Action, a conservative legal watchdog group.
In a letter to the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section, Cause of Action alleges that Reid and McAuliffe used their considerable political clout to expedite consideration of visas for investors in the SLS Las Vegas Hotel and Casino and GreenTech Automotive.
McAuliffe founded GreenTech; he resigned from the company before running for governor. The former’s parent company hired Reid’s son Rory in 2012 to help it obtain government incentives. Its executives donated thousands to Sen. Reid after its Chinese investors obtained U.S. visas.
Cause of Action’s letter comes on the heels of, and relies in large part on, a report from the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general released on Tuesday.
03/26/2015
Las Vegas Review-Journal: Will Congress have to tighten investor visa program?
Read the full story: Las Vegas Review-Journal
Dan Epstein, executive director of Cause of Action, charged Reid crossed the line between an elected official inquiring about agency actions on behalf of constituents to actively seeking to influence an adjudicative matter of determining who should be granted a U.S. visa.
03/26/2015
Breitbart: WATCHDOG GROUP CALLS ON DOJ TO LAUNCH CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION OF HARRY REID AND TERRY MCAULIFFE FOR ‘UNLAWFUL POLITICAL ACTIVITY’
Read the full story: Breitbart
“Cause of Action, a nonprofit, government oversight group, is calling on the Department of Justice to “immediately investigate” Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), Governor Terry McAuliffe (D-VA), and Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas “for their participation in unlawful political activity, possible coercion and fraud related to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program.”
Cause of Action Executive Director Dan Epstein will provide details in a media conference Thursday about a letter the group sent “calling on the Acting Chief Public Integrity Officer at the Department of Justice to investigate Department of Homeland Security Deputy Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas, Sen. Harry Reid, Gov. Terry McAuliffe and potentially others,” according to a statement released by the group. “The letter . . . comes on the heels of a report from the DHS Inspector General which revealed potential fraud in a well known visa-for-cash program administered by DHS. The IG’s investigation found that Mr. Mayorkas “exerted improper influence in the normal processing and adjudication of EB-5 immigration program benefits,” the statement read.”
03/26/2015
Cause of Action Calls for Full Investigation Into Questionable EB-5 Visa Program
WASHINGTON – Today, Cause of Action sent a letter calling on the Chief Public Integrity Officer at the Department of Justice to immediately investigate Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Deputy Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Sen. Harry Reid, Governor Terry McAuliffe and potentially others.
Cause of Action’s letter comes on the heels of a new DHS Inspector General report that revealed potential fraud in a well known visa-for-cash program administered by the DHS. The Inspector General’s investigation found that Mr. Mayorkas “exerted improper influence in the normal processing and adjudication of EB-5 immigration program benefits.”
Cause of Action’s Executive Director Dan Epstein issued the following statement:
“The DHS Inspector General’s report makes it clear that federal employees were pressured to make decisions that financially or politically benefited certain applicants and left many visa applicants felling deprived of a fair process from their government.
This practice of using undue influence to play favorites with government resources is a potential violation of the law and that is why we are calling for a full investigation into the program.”
Read the full letter here.
03/25/2015
Washington Times: Scandals force Hillary Clinton to delay 2016 bid announcement
Read the full story: Washington Times
The government watchdog group Cause of Action is pushing for a federal investigation into the action by Mr. Mayorkas and all others involved.
“At a minimum, there needs to be a federal investigation,” said Daniel Epstein, executive director of the group. “Alejandro Mayorkas, Harry Reid, Terry McAuliffe and the others essentially conspired to defraud the United States.”