Trump wants to abolish diversity green card lottery
President Donald Trump has called for the termination of the US' green card lottery, blaming it for allowing the suspected Manhattan truck attacker to live in America. Trump said the diversity visa lottery programme should be replaced with a merit-based system. Authorities haven't confirmed how the suspected attacker, Sayfullo Saipov, immigrated to America. But can Trump abolish the green card lottery? We explain:
What is the diversity visa lottery programme?
Under the programme, 50,000 visas are granted every year to applicants from countries normally underrepresented in the US immigration. The applicants are selected at random through a computer and don't need to have sponsorship, employment or family settled in America. Applicants only require a high-school degree or its regional equivalent to be eligible. Visa recipients can bring their spouses or children to the US.
Green card lottery is golden ticket for immigrants
Applicants must undergo a face-to-face interview with American immigration authorities. Any applicants found having terror links are ruled out. Since 1995, the green card lottery has granted permanent residencies, a gateway to citizenship, to one million people having no connections to the US. The programme still constitutes a small proportion of the estimated one million green cards the US issues annually.
Indians are ineligible to apply under green card lottery
It's worth noting that citizens of countries which received 50,000 green cards over the previous five years are ineligible to apply for the diversity visa lottery programme. This makes Indian, British, Mexican, Canadian and Chinese citizens ineligible. The programme was originally introduced to increase European immigration. However, it's led to higher immigration rates from other nations, particularly those in Africa.
Can Trump abolish the diversity green card lottery?
Trump himself lacks the requisite authority to end the programme. He will rely on Congressional Republicans to revoke it by creating new immigration laws. Trump has backed the Reforming American Immigration for Strong Employment (RAISE) Act, which aims to abolish the programme and halve the number of immigrants. However, RAISE failed to pass a Senate vote in February 2017 and hasn't garnered much support.
