Terrorists love our ‘diversity lottery’ program. It makes it so easy for them to get into the country. At least six terrorists have used it, including NYC terror suspect Sayfullo Saipov. Back in 2004 when it was adopted, the State Department’s deputy inspector warned that the program contained “significant threats to national security as hostile intelligence officers, criminals, and terrorists attempt to use it” to enter the U.S.” It turns out he was right.
Saipov, the ISIS sympathizer who allegedly committed the Halloween terror attack in Lower Manhattan that left eight dead and 11 more injured, entered the U.S. from Uzbekistan in 2010 through the visa lottery program.
The visa “lottery,” also known as the Diversity Visa Waiver Program, grants up to 50,000 immigrant visas annually, “drawn from random selection among all entries to individuals who are from countries with low rates of immigration” to the U.S., according to U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services.
That random selection, according to the State Department, is through a computer-generated drawing for foreign nationals to apply for permanent residence, or a green card, in the U.S. each year.
The Trump administration has identified several other terror suspects who have been randomly selected through the visa lottery to permanently settle in the U.S.
According to the Justice Department, on Oct. 27, just days before Saipov’s attack in New York City, another Uzbek national and visa lottery winner, Abdurasul Hasanovich Juraboev, was sentenced to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiring to provide material support to the Islamic State.
Another visa lottery winner, Syed Haris Ahmed, a Pakistani national, was convicted of terrorism related activities in the U.S. and abroad in 2009.
President Trump has been vocal in criticizing the program, and had called for its elimination, along with the termination of chain migration, which happens when immigrants can enter the country, simply to be united with a relative already living in the U.S.
In the summer of 2002, Egyptian national Hesham Mohamed Ali Hedayet opened fire at the El Al Airlines ticket counter at Los Angeles International Airport, murdering two ticket agents and wounded three others. Hedayet, at the time, had lived in the U.S. for 10 years, but was only able to claim “lawful permanent resident status” when his wife was randomly selected as a Visa Lottery winner in 1997, according to the Trump administration.
Also in the summer of 2002, Pakistani national Imran Mandhai pled guilty to conspiring to bomb a National Guard Armory and electrical power substation near Miami, Florida. Mandhai entered the U.S. due to his parent’s random selection for permanent legal status after winning the visa lottery program.
The Trump administration also pointed to a case in 1997, of Mousa Mohammed Abu Marzook, a U.S. Hamas leader, who was deported for terrorist activities. According to the Trump administration, Marzook obtained a Green Card through the program that existed prior to the passage of the Diversity Visa Waiver Program. (Via: Creeping Sharia)
Trump is urging congress to end this program. It’s putting American lives at risk. Do you think there is value in keeping this program?
