Posted on 10/09/2002 2:11:43 PM PDT by Minutemen
Visa lottery under scrutiny 4 legal entrants tied to violence Julia Malone - Cox Washington Bureau Wednesday, October 9, 2002
Washington --- The Egyptian man who shot and killed two at the Los Angeles airport on July 4, the Pakistani teenager who plotted to blow up power plants in South Florida and two Moroccans recently indicted as members of a terrorist cell in Detroit have at least one thing in common.
All were in the United States legally because of a once-obscure but increasingly controversial Diversity Visa Lottery.
Each year the program awards 55,000 residency permits on the basis of a random drawing.
Even in the security-conscious times since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the lottery continues unchanged. Applicants are accepted from around the world, including from Iraq, Iran, Sudan and Libya, which are listed by the United States as supporters of terrorism.
This week, the U.S. State Department began accepting its annual entries, amid a growing chorus of critics.
The program is expected to come under tough questioning today when the House Judiciary's immigration subcommittee holds a hearing on Hesham Mohamed Hadayet, the limousine driver from Egypt who opened fire in Los Angeles International Airport before he was killed by a security guard.
Hadayet, who had tried unsuccessfully for years to win political asylum in the United States, was granted his permanent residency ''green card'' when his wife won the visa lottery.
At that time, the Immigration and Naturalization Service checked his background and found no security risk, INS spokesman William Strassberger said. Now, the agency has better information for spotting problems, he said.
Imran Mandhai, a Pakistani teenager whose family moved here under the same program, is scheduled to be sentenced next week in Fort Lauderdale federal court.
He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to destroy electrical power stations.
And in Detroit, two more visa lottery winners, Karim Koubriti and Ahmed Hannan, were charged in late August with being part of a ''sleeper operational combat cell.''
Rep. George Gekas, the Pennsylvania Republican who chairs the immigration subcommittee, already has introduced legislation to do away with what he has called ''this troublesome lottery.''
The chief author of the program, Sen. Edward Kennedy, remains an outspoken defender.
The program ''does not pose any inherent security problems,'' the Massachusetts Democrat said in a statement released by his office. ''Rather, the security risks result from inadequate screening and the lack of intelligence information shared among government agencies.''
So popular is the program abroad that more than 8 million entries were sent last year, even though the application period came in the jittery weeks soon after Sept. 11.
''It's not a priority of ours,'' said Angela Kelley of the National Immigration Forum. ''There's so much in the immigration field. It hasn't been important for us.''
Groups that seek more restrictions for immigration oppose the lottery system.
The current application period ends Nov. 6.
Winners are scheduled to be announced in mid-2003.
Those chosen are subject to background checks by both the State Department and the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service.
What can I say? We're doomed.
True. What's 50000 people a year? This outfit a front for the guilt liberal/cheap-labor/immigration lawyer alliance over mass immigration. Since the lottery doesn't do much about lowering the wages of American citizens, it's not "important" to them. the group is a prime example of a "`left'-`right'" alliance of elites in this country.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.