New steel and solar plants and a transport terminal have become a godsend for the Mississippi River town of Osceola, now long past its heyday as a timber and grain hub where steamboats once called and blues music echoed.
But crucial to the financing of the burgeoning industrial cluster in this rural northeastern corner of Arkansas, one of America’s poorest states, is a surprising set of investors: Chinese citizens who have secured residency in the United States—and potentially a path to citizenship—through an investment visa scheme that has been bringing in thousands of people a year, by far the biggest group of whom are from China.
A Newsweek investigation has revealed how the entry of potentially hundreds of Chinese citizens to the U.S. via this struggling town of around 6,800 is being facilitated by Chinese companies with links to the ruling Communist Party that market their ability to buy entry to the United States. Also involved is the immigration investment subsidiary of a public economic development corporation in Little Rock.
There is no indication of wrongdoing on the part of the Chinese and American companies or individuals involved in the Osceola cluster, but the scale of the immigration pipeline from the country described by U.S. security agencies as America’s main global adversary has raised concerns among some serving and former U.S. officials over possible security risks not only from the arrival of hundreds of new residents but also over the level of Chinese involvement in industrial centres of potential strategic importance.
"The fundamental question that needs to be asked is: 'Would this transaction allow or facilitate the influence of an adversary state or adversary actor to the detriment of the United States, both from the economic health, you know, sustainability, resilience, as well as the national security of the United States?'” said a U.S. official with knowledge of the situation who was granted anonymity to speak as they were not permitted to discuss the issue publicly. “The answer is 'yes.'"
The revelations also come amid FBI concerns that China may be targeting the Mississippi River system to access the U.S. interior from Louisiana's southern ports northwards through St. Louis and into Chicago by establishing businesses and buying properties. China was aiming for "access to and control of supply chains, economic ties leveraged for political influence, ability to disrupt and collect intelligence," agent Benjamin Dreessen told the Louisiana District Export Council in July, according to the minutes of the meeting which was first reported by The Center Square. The FBI and the council did not respond to requests for comment.
Both immigration and relations with China are among the most contentious issues of President Donald Trump’s second term. Hundreds of thousands of people have been deported for living in the United States illegally, a new charge of $100,000 has been imposed for foreign skilled worker visas, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said the government will "aggressively" revoke visas from Chinese students and especially those with ties to the Communist Party. But Trump has also said he would welcome 600,000 Chinese students and in September the White House announced plans for wealthy foreigners to acquire legal residency by purchasing a "Gold Card." These mixed signals come amid an increasingly high-stakes, on-again off-again trade war with China.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment on Chinese immigration through the Osceola projects. China’s embassy in Washington, D.C., did not respond to a Newsweek request for comment.
Washington, D.C.-based national security experts have urged the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States to review the industrial hub in Osceola, two sources familiar with the situation told Newsweek. But the committee had declined to investigate, without giving a reason, they said. In a statement to Newsweek, Brody Garner, a spokesperson for the congressional Government Accountability Office said that "EB-5" visa projects qualified for CFIUS scrutiny. Garner did not respond to an email requesting specifics of the Osceola situation.
The EB-5 visa has been popular with wealthy Chinese since its launch in 1990. In 2022, the scheme was reformed and reauthorized by Congress following years of fraud and national security concerns. Today, the visa costs either $800,000 or just over $1 million, depending on the location and investment which must create jobs in the U.S.
Dozens of businesses offer investment spots across the U.S. with EB-5 immigration hitting a record in financial year 2024. Chinese citizens were the biggest group, taking 9,547—or 64 percent—of the 14,924 visas issued worldwide, according to the Department of State. About 10 percent each went to the next biggest takers, India and Vietnam. About 130,000 visas have been issued in the scheme's 35 years, according to Department of State figures.
Chinese Communist Control
Helping to arrange EB-5s is also a business for Chinese immigration firms, which must be certified by the powerful Ministry of Public Security to operate. Some boast of their ties to the authorities.
One company that has offered the investment spots in Osceola is Huiqiao Immigration Group, known in English as Wise Visa. The Shanghai company says it was founded in 2002 in North America, "on the initiative" of its honorary chairman, the businessman Hu Zhirong. Hu is also a senior official of an organization in China's southern Guangdong province that is part of the Communist Party’s United Front global political influence and interference organization, according to Newsweek research.
Huiqiao says it is a "Ministry of Public Security Specially Authorized Professional Overseas Service Agency," and that "the development of Huiqiao Immigration is inseparable from the care and support of numerous leaders in China."
"They not only provide guidance and expectations for Huiqiao's development, and chart its course, but also provide additional resources," it says on its website, above photographs of company parties attended by national United Front leaders and government ministers.
Contacted via the Chinese social media Weixin, Huiqiao's Fred Wang told Newsweek that it was "only a small company" in the immigration business. Neither he nor the company responded to further questions.
Another company offering the investment spots, Shenzhen-based Qiaolian International, is a prominent member of the Guangdong Entry & Exit Immigration Association whose businesses are "directed, supervised and managed" by the province's Public Security Department, according to the association website.
In a plush Sheraton hotel in Shenzhen last year, Qiaolian presented potential investors in Osceola with opportunities in the steel and solar plants and transport hub, state media China Daily reported.
"In this era of cultural diversity and boundless possibilities, the United States, as a land of freedom, continues to attract global attention," Qiaolian's website says, adding it offers "overseas identity planning." Efforts to reach the company for comment were unsuccessful.
Shanghai Immido Immigration Service Co. Ltd., another Chinese immigration company that has offered Chinese citizens the investment spots in the Osceola projects, says on its website that the EB-5 is "the most suitable U.S. immigration program" as it has "no educational, language, business, or work experience requirements. No immigration detention, and the location of the investment is irrelevant to where you live." An investment spot secured by an EB-5 investor also offers a green card to their spouse and children under 21.
Party Permission
Not just anyone can move from China. Those who do are monitored by the Ministry of Public Security, which issues the necessary passports and permissions. Local public security departments "manage citizens' private travel abroad," according to the website of the National Immigration Administration. It did not respond to a request for comment.
"It’s no secret that any high-net worth individual in China can only maintain their status, travel freely and move capital abroad with the acquiescence of the Party," said Laura Harth, director of China in The World at Safeguard Defenders, a Spain-based human rights organization.
That presented potential risks, Harth said.
"It raises a lot of questions, not in the least whether this might be something the CCP would actively seize on to get some of its ‘people’ well settled in the United States,” she said, adding that Chinese citizens abroad would remain obliged to assist Chinese security authorities according to Chinese law.
Despite the scale of the investments, there is little sign of any Chinese presence in Osceola outside of two restaurants where fried catfish and battered chicken are the most popular orders. "American-style Chinese food," owner Eric Chen said, wryly, standing behind the counter at King Wok restaurant. A Chinese ink painting of an eagle, and one of Mao Zedong with 10 top generals of the 1949 revolution, adorn the walls.
Chen said he didn't know any investors who had settled locally. Those who get EB-5 visas can live wherever they like. In an interview, Rush B. Deacon, the Senior Vice President of Special Projects at ACC Capital, the state development corporation which has investment immigration branches in Little Rock and in Shanghai, said that he didn't believe any successful immigrants had chosen to live in Osceola. Newsweek was unable to contact the investors who had immigrated via that route.
River Revival
But the transformational potential of the investments for the city is evident.
"With the steel mills arriving here in Osceola, it has really changed the landscape in this area, and while changing the landscape it also has changed the quality of life," said Mayor Joe Harris Jr. in an interview in his office in City Hall, an elegantly marbled former bank in the historic downtown.
Well-paying jobs of $100,000 a year were finally available even if most of the approximately 2,000 new workers at the plants were not choosing to live there, said Harris, an Osceola native and a former Arkansas state representative.
Outside in the historic downtown, the imposing Mississippi County Courthouse, built over a century ago in Classical style with Ionic columns and a grand copper dome, also speaks of wealthier days. Today, Osceola's poverty rate is about 27 percent, according to 2023 figures. "We've got river, rail and road, and we're centrally located in the U.S. Actually, it's an ideal location for almost any industry," C. David Burnett, Osceola city attorney and a former state senator, told Newsweek. In addition to the mighty river, the BNSF railway runs through town and the I-55 highway connects Osceola to New Orleans and Chicago.
Billions in Investment
Speaking from Little Rock, Deacon told Newsweek: "We're very proud of our projects." They were bringing in "billions of dollars" and providing jobs in a depressed region, Deacon said. ACC Capital's EB-5 visa office is known as Pine State Regional Center. It also has a visa office in Shanghai staffed by six Chinese citizens who manage its Asia-wide business, Deacon said.
Chinese immigration companies refer to the five projects so far—three steel mills, a solar plant and a rail and river terminal—simply as "Songzhou," or Pine State, 1 to 5. The projects are: Big River Steel phases one and two, and Hybar Steel, Hybar Terminals and Hybar Power.
Using EB-5 money was simply smart financing as it was cheaper than commercial market loans, enabling the industrial cluster to expand, Deacon said. "It has a catalytic impact in recycling equity into new projects."
"So, you've boosted your economic development opportunity, creating more jobs," he said.
Traditionally, EB-5 projects have focused on real estate developments in wealthy cities such as San Francisco, Los Angeles or New York, or on the hotel business.
But over the years the scheme's reputation began to suffer. A 2023 report by the Government Accountability Office titled "Opportunities Exist to Improve Fraud and National Security Risk Monitoring" called for better data collection and management. The 2022 congressional relaunch placed a new emphasis on transparency and investments in poor or rural areas.
The U.S. government scrutinizes arrivals carefully for national security risks, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) said in an email to Newsweek.
Spokesperson Matthew Tragesser said: “Every alien applicant or petition beneficiary seeking a benefit from USCIS undergoes a rigorous screening and vetting process. USCIS safeguards the American people by thoroughly screening and vetting ALL aliens."
Steel Couple
The Osceola projects are the brainchild of steel investor David Stickler, a Senior Managing Partner at Global Principal Partners (GPP), and his China-born wife, Rebecca Li, a gymnast-turned-steel financier who is Senior Advisor at the firm.
Detailed requests for comment sent to GPP were answered by Patricia Rioux, President of marketing company ODEA, who said: "EB-5 program participants represent a diverse group of countries from around the world, and all are subject to a thorough vetting process overseen by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services."
"The EB-5 participants have no direct relationship with or voice in the affairs of Hybar. The participants engage only with Pine State Regional Center, a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services approved EB-5 regional center. Pine State, a subsidiary of a well-respected 70-year-old nonprofit organization dedicated to economic development in distressed and rural areas of the United States, has a lending relationship with Hybar’s parent company," Rioux said.
Other investors in the projects include asset manager Texas Pacific Group, the Arkansas Teachers Retirement System, and Koch Industries. Big River Steel was bought by U.S. Steel in 2019. The companies did not reply to requests for comment.
The hub is expanding and so are the investment visa offerings, with a second phase of Hybar Steel underway. The company, which says it is builds the most environmentally friendly steel mills in the world, offers the slogan: "Tomorrow Belongs to Us."
"Sizing on that EB-5 offering is still under consideration," Deacon said. More Hybar steel factories were planned in the American South and in the Pacific Northwest, he said.
About 240 EB-5 visas, or $120 million at then-prices, helped fund the first two Big River Steel projects, Deacon said. About 487 more visas worth $390 million have gone into the Hybar projects with final applicants for Hybar Power currently being onboarded, Deacon said.
Details on how many investors were from China and how much ACC Capital earned from the transactions were confidential, he said. But Deacon dismissed security considerations over Chinese applicants.
"For strategic purposes, not necessarily related to security concerns for any group of investors, we try to very intentionally spread our source of investors among a number of different countries. Strategic diversification is simply a sound investment philosophy in any financial program or portfolio," he said.
"This is not the program you want to use if you're a bad guy. This is not your way to get into the United States. You're going to go through more serious vetting through the EB-5 process than you would any other visa category," Deacon said.
Call for Vetting
Others are not so sure the scheme is safe. Several national security experts in Washington, D.C., have urged CFIUS to review the investments, sources familiar with the situation told Newsweek. The concerns center around foreign influence over GPP and Hybar by Chinese nationals, and direct Chinese investment in Hybar through the EB-5 visa program amounting to potential foreign control, two sources said.
But CFIUS had not taken action, they told Newsweek. CFIUS is chaired by the Department of the Treasury with other government departments including Commerce and Defense on board. The Treasury did not respond to requests for comment.
Stickler and his wife Li have often been in China, where GPP helped to modernize a steel project in the northern steel center of Tangshan, according to a U.S. media report.
On one trip the couple met with a prominent United Front member in southwestern Yunnan province and subsequently participated in a sports event, according to photographs and a report in Chinese-language media. Li’s Chinese social media accounts say she has been a director of two institutes in Beijing belonging to an esoteric movement called "Create Abundance." Chinese authorities have accused the group of being a pyramid scheme and a cult.
GPP did not reply to a question about Li's alleged ties to Create Abundance. Create Abundance's lawyer in Canada did not reply to a request for comment.
Despite uncertainty over changes in the U.S. immigration system, interest in China in emigrating to the United States shows no sign of fading. "It's still attractive, for sure," said a person who asked to be identified only by his last name, Zhang, at the Shanghai business-to-business immigration company Etouce. The company is not directly involved in the Osceola investments.
In Osceola, Mayor Harris Jr. said of Stickler, whom he called a friend: "The way I figure he does business, he's a genius at what he does. Because he knows his industry that he's financing, and he knows how to get the investors involved."
"I would not want to comment on his investors. I would rather for him to comment on his investors, because I don't know enough about his investors. I just know he makes it happen," Harris said.
Newsweek