Anne Patterson, Deputy Inspector General of the U.S. State Department, said that despite all security measures taken, the annual drawing of 55,000 green cards poses a major threat to U.S. national security. This is reported by Lenta.ru with reference to a publication in The Washington Post.
"This is one of the most convenient ways for terrorists and hostile intelligence agents to enter the country," Patterson explained her position at a hearing in the Immigration Subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives. "The program remains a serious security threat," says Senator Robert Goodlatte, author of the bill to ban the Green Card lottery.
The countries whose nationals do not participate in the lottery - Canada, Mexico, Haiti, Great Britain, Russia, China, India, Pakistan, South Korea, Vietnam and the Philippines - do not belong to the "axis of evil." Meanwhile, citizens of countries supporting international terrorism, who cannot obtain a visa on general grounds, can quite freely win a green card. For example, the 2004 lottery includes 1,183 Sudanese, 1,431 Iranians and 64 Syrians. Moreover, a green card gives potential terrorists far more opportunities than a temporary visa, since it allows them to leave and re-enter the country at any time.
The question of reducing the lottery and tightening requirements for applicants will be considered by the U.S. Congress in the near future.
Let us recall that a green card is a U.S. immigrant visa. Its holder has the right to permanent residence in the United States and is legally almost equated to a U.S. citizen, lacking only the right to vote in elections or serve on a jury. He also gains access to social security, health care, education services, and everything else that every U.S. citizen has. A green card holder also has the right to act as a sponsor if his relatives apply for a U.S. residence permit.
The purpose of the lottery, which has been held since 1990, is to increase the flow of immigrants from countries with low immigration rates to the United States. Millions of people apply, but only 100,000 people were selected for the lottery, for example, last year. All of them will undergo the visa application procedure. Ultimately, 50,000 of them will receive green cards under the general scheme and another 5,000 under the Nicaraguan and Central American Acts.