UPDATE: The House Judiciary Committee passed H.R. 775 by a vote of 18-8 on September 30, 2004.

JUDICIARY SUBCOMMITTEE PASSES GOODLATTE LEGISLATION TO ELIMINATE IMMIGRANT VISA LOTTERY

Says Lottery Poses National Security Threat

DATE: September 15, 2004
CONTACT: ELYSE BAUER, Office of Rep. Bob Goodlatte

Washington, DC: The Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Claims today passed the Visa Lottery Elimination Act, H.R. 775, which was introduced by Congressman Bob Goodlatte. This bipartisan legislation would eliminate the visa lottery program from the Immigration and Nationality Act, thereby helping to ensure our nation’s security while making the administration of our immigration laws more consistent and fair.

Each year there is a national immigration ‘lottery’ by which 50,000 aliens may become legal permanent residents of the U.S.

“The visa lottery system poses a national security threat. Under the program, each successful applicant is chosen at random and given the status of permanent resident based on pure luck,” Goodlatte said. “Usually, immigrant visas are issued to foreign nationals who have an existing connection with a family member lawfully residing in the United States or with a U.S. employer. These types of relationships help to ensure that immigrants entering the country have a stake in our nation’s continued success, and have needed skills to contribute to our nation’s economy. However, under the visa lottery program, visas are awarded to immigrants at random without meeting such criteria.”

An example of the system gone awry, and thereby posing a security threat, is the case of Hesham Mohamed Ali Hedayet, the Egyptian national who killed two and wounded three during a shooting spree at Los Angeles International Airport in July of 2002. Hadayet was a beneficiary of the immigration lottery. Having overstayed his visa, he obtained a temporary work authorization in 1996, and he and his family earned permanent resident status the next year after his wife won the federal visa lottery, despite Hedayet’s own admission to the INS that he had been accused by the Egyptian government of being a member of a known terrorist organization.

The Visa Lottery Elimination Act will be referred to the full House Judiciary Committee for further consideration.