EB5 Investors Magazine "Top 25 Awards Edition" Volume 8 Issue 1 | Page 61

TOP AT TORNEYS IN SPECIALIZED FIELDS H. RONALD KLASKO ATTORNEYS IN SPECIALIZED FIELDS EB5 INVESTORS MAGAZINE H . Ronald Klasko leads the E-2 and EB-5 Investors Team at Klasko Immigration Law Partners. They have represented thousands of investors, over 50 regional centers, and many developers. Klasko currently chairs AILA’s Administrative Litigation Task Force and served five terms as chair of AILA’s EB-5 Committee. He is also a former national president and general counsel of AILA. He is the only person twice honored with the AILA Founders Award for his contributions to immigration law. He has been selected for inclusion in Best Lawyers in America© for over two decades. He is the North American Representative of the Investment Migration Council. HOW DO YOU THINK THE EB-5 PROGRAM SHOULD BE REFORMED WHEN IT IS UP FOR RENEWAL IN JUNE? The regional center program must be renewed by June 30 or it will expire. The pending legislation to extend the program for 5 years has some provisions with which I agree and some with which I disagree. My most important objections relate to one inclusion and one exclusion. The provision included is a restriction on judicial review of EB-5 applications unless administrative remedies are exhausted. This exists nowhere else in immigration law. The main exclusion is the failure to include quota relief, meaning that EB-5 quota backlogs will continue unabated. Either the number should be increased or derivatives should not be counted. WHAT NEW TRENDS ARE YOU SEEING IN THE EB-5 INDUSTRY ESPECIALLY WITH THE IMPACT OF COVID-19? Interest among investors substantially diminished since the investment amount was increased to $900,000/$1.8 million. Delays in petition adjudications are worsening, resulting in increasing number of mandamus complaints filed in federal court. In many cases, the only way to get an adjudication is by filing a mandamus. Regional center terminations are increasing for a variety of reasons. The next year will likely see litigation addressing the impact of regional center terminations on investors. Regional centers are struggling to decipher and comply with USCIS policy on redeployment of investor funds. In some cases, they are litigating USCIS policy or lack of policy. EB5INVESTORS.COM 61