Should the Diversity Visa Lottery Program be Repealed? (S. 2082)
Do you support or oppose this bill?
What is S. 2082?
(Updated September 24, 2018)
This bill would repeal the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program, which gives out 50,000 permanent resident visas (aka Green Cards) every year through a randomly selected lottery. Winners of the lottery can come to the U.S. without a sponsor, don’t have to pay an application fee, and can bring their spouses and minor children after passing a background check. Only applicants from countries who have sent less than 50,000 people to the U.S. in the last five years can participate in the lottery.
Argument in favor
The U.S. immigration system should use a merit-based approach, not randomly give out 50,000 visas to people from countries that don’t send many immigrants to America. The diversity visa lottery should be eliminated.
Argument opposed
The diversity visa lottery enhances the nation by giving many law-abiding, productive immigrants from smaller countries a chance to come to America. It should remain in place.
Impact
Those who would get visas through the diversity lottery; and the Dept. of Homeland Security.
Cost of S. 2082
A CBO cost estimate is unavailable.
Additional Info
In-Depth: Sponsoring Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) introduced this bill to end the diversity lottery program:
“If you tried to design a more irrational immigration program than the diversity visa lottery program, you couldn’t do it. It’s nonsense on a stick. We are a nation of immigrants, but we are also a nation of laws. The laws surrounding immigration need to look like someone designed them on purpose. The diversity visa lottery program is not one of those laws.”
Of Note: According to State Department data analyzed by the Washington Post, two-thirds of the diversity visa lottery winners in recent years came from Africa and Eastern Europe.
The attacker who killed eight in an vehicular terror attack in New York City on October 31, 2017 came to the U.S. from Uzbekistan using the diversity visa lottery program.
Politico and Morning Consult conducted a poll which found that 45 percent of respondents expressed support for eliminating a diversity visa lottery, while 32 percent were opposed and 24 percent didn’t express an opinion.
Media:
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Sponsoring Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) Press Release
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Breitbart
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The Hill (Op-Ed In Favor)
- Countable (Context)
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Washington Post (Context)
Summary by Eric Revell
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