Trump demands end to green card lottery in wake of New York terror attack

Peter Dutton warns Australians that flagged US visa changes could have a “big impact” on those planning to work and holiday in the US.

President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House early today in Washington.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has warned the flagged US visa changes could have a “big impact” on Australians planning to work and holiday in the US.

But he defended Donald Trump’s decision to try and axe the green card lottery program, despite more than 20,000 Australians applying each year.

“The President reflects the view of the American people in that they want to make sure people coming to their country are the right people: people who are going to abide by the law, adhere to American values and make sure that they don’t pose a threat.” Mr Dutton told Nine Network this morning.

“They are similar policy settings that we have got here. We are lucky in the fact that we are an island nation and have the ability to stop people hopping on planes and that is why we have a tough border protection when it comes to boats as well.

“The Americans will do what is in their international interests and we will work closely with the United States sharing intelligence information around the clock.”

Mr Trump wants an end to the visa lottery program that brought to the US the driver of a rental truck who ploughed into pedestrians and cyclists in New York.

Sayfullo Saipov.

Officials said the suspect, 29-year-old Sayfullo Saipov, was admitted to the US through the diversity lottery program, which randomly awards 50,000 green cards to foreigners each year. Mr Trump has proposed ending the program before and reiterated his views in the wake of the attack, which killed eight people and injured 11 others.

“I am going to ask Congress to immediately initiate work to get rid of this program,” Mr Trump said from the White House on Wednesday. “It sounds nice. It’s not nice. It’s not good.”

Mr Trump also expressed sympathy for the victims and called the attack a horrible act and the driver an animal. He said he was considering sending the attacker to the US terrorism detention centre at Guantanamo Bay. “Send him to Gitmo,” he said.

Saipov came to the US from Uzbekistan in 2010 through the diversity lottery program, the Department of Homeland Security said. He is a legal permanent resident, according to New York City police, meaning he would have been eligible to apply for citizenship.

Republicans have long tried to end the program. Democrats generally support the lottery as a way to ensure diversity among immigrants to the US, but they have been willing to see it go as part of a larger, comprehensive immigration bill.

In 2007 and 2013, broadbased overhaul bills included provisions to kill the diversity lottery and use those visas for a merit-based system, but both measures died amid Republican opposition. GOP efforts to end the lottery program without making other changes to the immigration system have also languished.

Writing on Twitter early today, Mr Trump called the program “a Chuck Schumer beauty,” though the New York Democrat wasn’t a co-sponsor as a member of the House of Representatives when it was signed into law by President George H.W. Bush in 1990. He said the US needed to get tougher on migration and warned the current system importing the problems of Europe to America.

The terrorist came into our country through what is called the "Diversity Visa Lottery Program," a Chuck Schumer beauty. I want merit based.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 1, 2017

We are fighting hard for Merit Based immigration, no more Democrat Lottery Systems. We must get MUCH tougher (and smarter). @foxandfriends

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 1, 2017

"Senator Chuck Schumer helping to import Europes problems" said Col.Tony Shaffer. We will stop this craziness! @foxandfriends

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 1, 2017

Mr Trump and his administration have repeatedly praised Australia’s immigration policies.

In August the president proposed the RAISE Act, a points-based system favouring green cards awarded to English speaking applicants who can financially support themselves.

When Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull explained to Mr Trump in their infamous January 28 phone call Australia’s tough Manus Island and Nauru refugee policies the president replied: “That is a good idea. We should do that too. You are worse than I am”.

The Immigration Act had bipartisan support and was co-sponsored in the Senate by Republicans Alan Simpson of Wyoming and Alfonse D’Amato of New York, along with Democrats Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York and Christopher Dodd of Connecticut. The late Senator Ted Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, was an original sponsor of the program.

As a senator, Mr Schumer has supported the program as a way to ensure that immigration doesn’t come from just a handful of countries whose citizens wind up qualifying through standard means.

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“I have always believed and continue to believe that immigration is good for America,” Senator Schumer said this morning. “President Trump, instead of politicising and dividing America, which he always seems to do at times of national tragedy, should be focusing on the real solution — anti-terrorism funding — which he proposed cutting in his most recent budget.”

A Republican proposal backed by Mr Trump this year called the Raise Act would reduce total legal immigration to the US, in part by eliminating the diversity lottery. Many Democrats have been open to ending the program but they want to retain the visas for use in another way.

Mr Trump has been a proponent of curbing legal immigration, including reducing the number of foreigners who can come to the US strictly based on family ties in the US.

A video still shows Saipov as he emerges from the ute with a gun.

‘Stop politicising this tragedy’

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Wednesday morning that the last thing the president or anybody else should do is politicise this tragedy. He said the focus should be on finding out what motivated the attacker.

“That is what we should be focused on. The last thing we should do is be casting aspersions on whole races of people, whole religions,” he told CNN, noting that anyone who seeks to immigrate to the US should be thoroughly vetted.

The Diversity Lottery was created as part of the 1990 Immigration Act and intended to encourage immigration from countries with lower rates of immigration to the US.

Under the Diversity program, 50,000 visas are available to foreigners each year from nearly any country, with countries with high rates of immigration to the US as exceptions.

About 100,000 winners are selected each year by the State Department to ensure that 50,000 eligible immigrants can be approved for the program.

President Donald Trump speaks while meeting with members of his cabinet in Washington.

Winners are allowed to move to the US, often with their immediate family, and are immediately eligible for a green card and can eventually apply for citizenship.

Though the program doesn’t require that visa winners have ties to the US or have specific skills, they are required to have a high school diploma and at least two years of experience in a job that requires at least two years of training or experience.

Visa winners are subject to the same background checks, including with law enforcement and intelligence agencies, as any other foreigner asking to come to the U.S.

Millions of people apply for the program every year and any one country is limited to 7 per cent of the total visas given out.

Just over 4000 people from Uzbekistan won the diversity lottery for the 2010 budget year, according to State Department statistics. That same year, 3198 people from the Central Asian nation, a former Soviet republic, became legal permanent residents in the US under the diversity visa lottery, according to government data.

Saipov’s crumpled ute after it crashed into a school bus. Picture: Reuters

With The Wall Street Journal