[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 87 (Tuesday, June 22, 2004)]
[House]
[Page H4730]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT, FRAUD AND ABUSE ASSOCIATED WITH VISA LOTTERY 
                                PROGRAM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Goodlatte) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss a government 
program that presents a serious national security threat and is wrought 
with fraud and abuse, the visa lottery program.
  Under the program, each successful applicant is chosen at random and 
given the status of permanent resident, a green card holder, based on 
pure luck. A perfect example of the system gone awry is the case of 
Hesham Mohamed Ali Hedayet, the Egyptian national who killed two and 
wounded three during a shooting spree at the Los Angeles International 
Airport in July of 2002. He was allowed to apply for lawful permanent 
resident status in 1997 because of his wife's status as a visa lottery 
winner.
  The State Department's Inspector General has even weighed in on the 
national security threat posed by the visa lottery program. In a report 
issued in September of 2003, the Office of Inspector General stated 
that the visa lottery program contains ``significant threats to 
national security from entry of hostile intelligence officers, 
criminals, and terrorists into the United States as permanent 
residents.''
  Usually immigrant visas are issued to foreign nationals who have 
existing connections with family members lawfully residing in the 
United States. These types of relationships help ensure that immigrants 
entering our country have a stake in continuing America's 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.
  In addition, the visa lottery program is unfair to immigrants who 
comply with the United States' immigration laws. The visa lottery 
program does not expressly prohibit illegal aliens from applying to 
receive visas through the program. Thus the program treats foreign 
nationals that comply with our laws the same as those that blatantly 
violate our laws. In addition, most family-sponsored immigrants 
currently face a wait of years to obtain visas. Yet the lottery program 
pushes 50,000 random immigrants with no particular family ties, job 
skills, or education ahead of these families and employer-sponsored 
immigrants each year with relatively no wait. This sends the wrong 
message to those who wish to enter our great country and to the 
international community as a whole.
  Furthermore, the visa lottery program is wrought with fraud. A recent 
report released by the Center for Immigration Studies states that it is 
commonplace for foreign nationals to apply for the lottery program 
multiple times using many different aliases. In addition, the visa 
lottery program has spawned a cottage industry featuring sponsors in 
the U.S. who falsely promise success to applicants in exchange for 
large sums of money. Ill-informed foreign nationals are willing to pay 
top dollar for the ``guarantee'' of lawful permanent resident status in 
the U.S.
  The State Department's Office of Inspector General confirms these 
allegations of widespread fraud in its September report. Specifically, 
the report states that the visa lottery program is ``subject to 
widespread abuse'' and that ``identity fraud is endemic and fraudulent 
documents are commonplace.'' Furthermore, the report also reveals that 
the State Department found that 364,000 duplicate applications were 
detected in 2003 alone. The only penalty for such abuse is 
disqualification from that year's lottery.
  The visa lottery program represents what is wrong with our country's 
immigration system. The serious national security threats, fraud and 
waste that the visa lottery program present beg the question why is 
this program still in existence?
  Last February I introduced H.R. 775, the Security and Fairness 
Enhancement, or SAFE, for America Act.

                              {time}  1800

  This important legislation would eliminate the controversial visa 
lottery program. Not only will the removal of the visa lottery improve 
our Nation's security but it will also make the administration of our 
immigration laws more consistent and fair and help reduce immigration 
fraud and opportunism.
  I urge each of my colleagues to support this important legislation.

                          ____________________