[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 2 (Tuesday, January 12, 2010)]
[House]
[Page H14]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          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, in the news since Christmas Day has been 
great concern about the security of our country related to individuals 
entering this country and attempting to perpetrate harm on our 
citizens. It harkens back to September 11, 2001, and all the measures 
that we have taken since then to try to make our Nation a safer place.
  One of the areas where we could make it much safer and much fairer 
for all of our citizens and for those who seek to come to the United 
States would be to eliminate the visa lottery program. This is a 
program that awards legal permanent residence status, or ``green 
cards,'' to foreign nationals based on pure luck.
  Literally, the State Department conducts a random lottery. Millions 
of people submit their names on very short forms, about a half-page 
long, and then they randomly select out of those millions of people 
50,000 winners each year who get to enter the United States through the 
visa lottery program. They don't have to have any family ties to the 
United States. They don't have to have any job skills that are in need 
in the United States. They simply, through pure luck, get to enter this 
country.
  Usually, immigrant visas are issued to foreign nationals that have 
existing connections with family members lawfully residing in the 
United States or with U.S. employers. However, under the visa lottery 
program, visas are awarded to immigrants at random without meeting such 
criteria.
  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 Los Angeles International Airport in 
July 2002. He was allowed to apply for a legal permanent residence 
status in 1997 because of his wife's status as a visa lottery winner.
  In fact, since this program was established in the early 1990s, 
nearly 1 million people have come into the United States regardless of 
the need for them to enter this country, regardless of the unemployment 
rate, which today stands above 10 percent. And with 15 million 
Americans looking for work, we give 50,000 visas to people to enter the 
country not based upon any family ties, not based upon any job skills, 
simply based upon pure luck.
  The State Department's Inspector General testified before Congress 
recently that it continues to believe that the program ``contains 
significant risks to national security from hostile intelligence 
officers, criminals, and terrorists attempting to use the program for 
entry into the United States as permanent residents.'' With the tool of 
``legal permanent resident'' status in hand, terrorists and spies would 
have free rein to travel and meet and plan terrorist activities within 
the borders of the United States.
  Even if technical improvements were made to the visa lottery program, 
nothing would prevent terrorist organizations or foreign intelligence 
agencies from having members apply for the program who do not have 
criminal backgrounds, maybe have recently left one of the madrassas in 
the Middle East and have no record of having been affiliated with a 
terrorist organization, but that organization could assist them in 
submitting their names. And if they get a visa if their name is drawn, 
they don't just get a temporary visa like the 9/11 hijackers or the 
fellow who just attempted to blow up a Northwest airliner; rather, they 
get permanent residence status or a green card to live permanently in 
the United States.
  Thirteen of the 14 countries over which the TSA is exercising greater 
scrutiny in the wake of the attempted Christmas Day bombing plot are 
eligible to participate in the visa lottery, including Yemen, which has 
become the focus of much activity on the part of terrorist 
organizations.
  The visa lottery program is wrought with fraud. It is common for 
foreign nationals to apply for the lottery program multiple times using 
many different aliases. The State Department's Office of Inspector 
General declared in its September 2003 report that the visa lottery 
program is ``subject to widespread abuse'' and that ``identity fraud is 
endemic, and fraudulent documents are commonplace.''
  A 2007 Government Accountability Office report found that the visa 
lottery program is vulnerable to fraudulent activity committed by and 
against applicants. The same 2007 report found that consular officers 
at six posts out of 11 reviewed reported that widespread use of fake 
documents, such as birth certificates, marriage certificates, and 
passports, presented challenges when verifying the identities of 
applicants and dependents.
  The visa lottery program is unfair to immigrants who comply with 
United States immigration laws. Most family-sponsored immigrants 
currently face a wait of years to obtains visas, yet the lottery 
program pushes 50,000 random immigrants with no particular family ties, 
job skills, or education ahead of these family- and employer-sponsored 
immigrants each year with no wait.
  Mr. Speaker, this legislation should be overturned. I have introduced 
legislation to do just that. This Congress should bring it up for a 
vote.
  There is a bipartisan effort to eliminate the visa lottery program. 
Forty-five bipartisan Members of Congress have already cosponsored this 
legislation, and it has twice passed the House: once under a Democrat 
majority in the 110th Congress as an amendment to the FY 2008 State/
Foreign Operations Appropriations bill on the House floor and once in 
the 109th Congress as an amendment to H.R. 4437.
  Democrat leadership this Congress blocked the same amendment from 
coming to the floor for a vote during the consideration of the FY 2010 
State/Foreign Operations Appropriations bill. The Democrat-controlled 
House has not held a single hearing on the dangers posed by the visa 
lottery program during the 110th or 111th Congresses.

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