Peter Schweizer’s book “The Invisible Coup: How American Elites and Foreign Powers Use Immigration as a Weapon” says that a long-standing U.S. immigration visa program may have made it easier for foreign money to flow into American Democratic political campaigns, especially in the 1990s.
The report is mostly about the Employment-Based Fifth Preference (EB-5) visa, which Congress set up in 1990 to bring in foreign money and create jobs in the US. Foreign nationals who invest at least $1.05 million or $800,000 in targeted employment areas and create 10 or more jobs for Americans can become lawful permanent residents under EB-5.
Maria Hsia and John Huang were important people who helped start and promote the EB-5 program, according to the book. They later became involved in campaign finance scandals during the 1996 election cycle to help then-President Bill Clinton. At the time, a Senate investigation found that Hsia was working for the Chinese government and hid her ties to it while organizing political donations. Huang later pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges in 1999 for breaking campaign finance laws.
The book also mentions James Riady, whose family’s money was involved in campaign contribution violations that happened around the same time. After the news came out, the Democratic Party gave back more than $1 million in donations that were thought to be wrong because of those events.
The report says that Schweizer’s research shows that the EB-5 visa program allowed foreign investors, especially those from China, to get involved in U.S. politics by letting permanent residents make campaign contributions. This is against federal campaign finance law for foreign nationals. It talks about Danhong “Jean” Chen, a Chinese citizen and EB-5 visa facilitator whose business sent hundreds of thousands of dollars to Democratic campaigns. Chen and her husband were later charged with identity theft and visa fraud. It was said that Chen had left the country before her arrest.
The book also says that a lot of EB-5 investors were from China and that some companies used ads about connections to politicians and access to high-level officials to promote the program. Schweizer is said to be worried about possible effects on national security because of the amount of foreign investment involved.
Hillary Clinton got a lot of donations of thousands of dollars from the Chinatown neighborhood in New York City during her 2008 presidential primary campaign. Investigators found that a lot of the people who gave money lived in buildings that were falling apart and had obvious problems with their structure.
Further questions showed that some Chinese donors had been told by neighborhood groups to support Clinton’s campaign.
Some of these community groups also had ties to the United Front Work Department, which Beijing uses to spread Communist ideas around the world.
Schweizer points out a big difference in how the Chinese government handles EB-5 operations. Beijing says that citizens can’t send more than $50,000 out of China each year, but EB-5 recruiting companies can work freely in the country even though visa requirements are much higher than this limit.
The program has also let foreign nationals work on sensitive American infrastructure projects, which makes the national security risks even worse.
Schweizer’s research shows that the EB-5 visa system, which was supposedly created by people with ties to the Chinese Communist Party, has given Beijing many ways to make untraceable political donations to American elections over the course of many decades.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee voted on Wednesday to move forward with two resolutions holding former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in contempt of Congress for not responding to subpoenas related to the ongoing investigation into Jeffrey Epstein’s criminal network and his connections to public officials.
The votes are a big step up in the House’s long-running investigation into Epstein’s political ties. They are also the first time Congress has moved to hold a former president and a former cabinet member in contempt at the same time.
On July 23, 2025, the Federal Law Enforcement Subcommittee of the Oversight Committee sent out subpoenas to both Clintons, ordering them to testify about their past ties to Epstein.
Lawmakers say the depositions were necessary to find out if any federal agencies didn’t follow up on leads about Epstein’s activities or the people he worked with.
