Andy J. Semotiuk
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Not all is well with America’s image following its recent withdrawal from Afghanistan. Now that image is about to take another blow because of the way it has been handling this year’s Diversity Green Card Lottery winners in their bid to come to America under that program.
A Final Court Hearing
Only a few days remain for the State Department to issue the remaining immigrant visas to the winners of the Fiscal Year-2021 Diversity Green Card Lottery program. Out of 55,000 FY-2021 Diversity Visas (DV) allotted by Congress, so far the State Department has issued less than 14,000. In the absence of an intervention by the court or Congress, the remaining visas will expire at the end of September 2021 and the immigration path for tens of thousands of DV-2021 winners will end. In the case of Goodluck v. Biden in the California U.S. District Court, attorneys for over 22,000 plaintiffs and family members will have a final opportunity to address their key concerns about the expiry of the rights of the lottery winners this week. A video conference before U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta has been scheduled for Monday, September 27th, 2021 for that purpose. The hearing will be accessible to the public at 11 AM EST here.
Struggle to Be Granted Immigrant Status
Among the Goodluck applicants are four Cuban families who were winners of the 2021 Diversity Visa Lottery who made the logistically complicated and incredibly expensive journey from Cuba to Georgetown, Guyana based only on their belief that, pursuant to a September 9th, 2021 order in the Goodluck case, they would be able to get interviews at the U.S. embassy there before the September 30 deadline. In a previous Goodluck court order, Judge Mehta ordered the State Department to make expeditious good faith efforts to adjudicate DV-2021 visas. But for these four Cuban families, that order hasn't helped yet. For the Cuban immigrant visa applicants, the trip to Guyana was necessary because the U.S. Embassy in Havana has been closed for three years now. The trip required up to six flights and cost up to $5ooo per traveller. Equally difficult trips were made by Venezuelan lottery winners who travelled to Bogota, only not to be scheduled for interviews there. For these and the other plaintiffs in the case, the stakes are high.
Background of the Diversity Green Card Program
Immigration attorneys and others working in the field many years ago noticed that certain source countries like Mexico, China, India and the Philippines were flooding the U.S. with immigrants. On the flip side there were many countries that were underrepresented. For example, there were very few immigrants coming from African countries or smaller countries elsewhere. To address this imbalance they lobbied Congress to pass a law making up to 55,000 Diversity Visas available each fiscal year for persons coming from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. To ensure fairness, the program introduced a yearly lottery so would-be immigrants from these disadvantaged countries could apply and stand an equal chance to come to the U.S. and at the same time diversify the incoming immigrant population. The Goodluck applicants are trying to take advantage of their success under this program.
Disappointing Contrast
Curtis Lee Morrison, a U.S. immigration attorney representing the Goodluck plaintiffs, said, "I can't believe what these families have gone through to legally immigrate to the United States, after being selected and essentially invited to do so." He added, “What is most remarkable is the contrast between the Biden Administration’s public-facing pro-immigrant positions, and the intensity in which Department of Justice lawyers continue to defend the State Department’s Trump-era policies that were carefully designed to reduce existing immigration paths.”
In addition to the Cuban and Venezuelan applicants, there are over two thousand Afghan DV-2021 winners and their families anxiously waiting for immigrant visa interviews, yet zero interviews were granted to them by the U.S. Embassy in Kabul before it ceased operations on August 31, 2021 and the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad has notably turned away transfer requests from some of them, according to Morrison.
Afghans Among DV Lottery Winners
Many Afghan DV-2021 winners fear their lives are in danger for their plans to immigrate to the USA. Morrison represents 40 such Afghan DV-2021 families who are plaintiffs in the Goodluck law suit. According to Morrison, lawyers for the government have indicated that, “To the extent any DV applicants from Afghanistan have already travelled to a third country (or will travel) and have contacted the post in that country to request to have their DV case adjudicated at that post, then the post will make a decision based on its local COVID-19 conditions and available interview appointments.” However, Morrison believes more could be done to help such families gain access to the United States and will argue his case before the court.
Winners of the lottery are entitled to apply for a Permanent Resident Green card of United states ... [+] GETTY
Why The Program Works
There are two reasons why the Diversity Lottery is one of the best immigration programs in the United States. Firstly, it diversifies the in-bound immigrant population as Congress intended. While the beneficiaries of the program may have changed over time, the diversity element remains. Secondly, this is one of the few programs in which an average person, someone without family ties or personal connections or wealth, can qualify to immigrate legally to this country. This resonates deeply with American values.
Credibility At Stake
While the litigants in the Goodluck case will have one more chance to win relief in the U.S. District Court on September 27th, in the absence of an extraordinary order by the Judge, thousands of lottery winners are likely to lose their hard-won claims to immigrate to the U.S. this year. That will be a blow not only to those who were successful in the lottery, but to the credibility of the program and America as a whole.
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