"THEY WANT TO STOP DV-LOTTERY"
Critics say the program poses security risks, lures uneducated immigrants and enables individuals with no connection to the U.S. to get into the country more quickly than those sponsored by relatives and employers.
"More and more people are learning about this program and are dumbfounded that we have it in the first place," said
Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R., Va.), who has introduced legislation to abolish it. "Our chances have never been better to kill it," he added, following his party's successes in the midterm elections and amid high unemployment in the U.S.
Although the program accounts for a small percentage of the million or so legal immigrants who enter the U.S. each year, critics say it diverts scarce State Department resources from processing more important visa categories.
"It shows that the U.S. immigration system doesn't make sense," said Bernard Wolfsdorf, an immigration attorney. "We are allocating visas based on luck instead of knowledge."
Rep. Goodlatte of Virginia and others also voice concern that the program is inviting to terrorists, because people don't need to prove they have ties to the U.S. and are guaranteed permanent residency, which allows them to get almost any job—even handling explosives.
THE REASONS FOR PROPOSING TO STOP DV
Hesham Mohammed Ali Hedayet, an Egyptian who killed two people at an El Al airline counter in Los Angeles in 2002, was able to remain in the U.S. after overstaying his visitor's visa because his wife won the green-card lottery.
The State Department said those who get in through the lottery are subjected to the same stringent security review as other visa applicants.
Margaret Stock, a retired West Point professor who studies immigration and defense, said terrorists wouldn't be stopped by abolishing the program. "The DV lottery is not any more susceptible to terrorism than other visa programs," Lt. Col. Stock said.
Egyptian-born Mohammed Atta, one of the hijackers in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, entered the green-card lottery at least once, according to documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. He never won a spot in the lottery, and eventually came to the U.S. on a business-visitor visa instead.
Fraud is another challenge. The fervor for a shot at the American Dream prompted one Bangladeshi man to submit 2,800 entries, the State Department said; just one entry per year is allowed. Fake marriages, between a winner and a stranger, are common, too.
But if an entrant is disqualified one year, he or she can still enter the next year.
"All is forgiven, it's a new lottery," said one U.S. official.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100...98.html?mod=WSJ_hp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsThird
Quo-vadis!
