Progress Assignment

Our current immigration system jeopardizes our national security and puts

American communities at risk. That’s why President Donald J. Trump has

repeatedly called for common sense, mainstream immigration reforms such as

ending chain migration and eliminating the visa lottery.

Chain Migration

Under our current immigration system, around 70 percent of legal immigrants

admitted to the United States every year do so based on family ties rather than

merit. Because most immigrants are selected on the basis of their family

connections—rather than real selection criteria, like the skills they bring to our

economy or their likelihood of assimilation into our society—our current family-

based immigration system does not meet the needs of the modern United States

economy and is incompatible with preserving our national security.

A recent joint report from the Department of Justice and the Department of

Homeland Security found that roughly three in four individuals convicted of

international terrorism-related charges since September 11, 2001, were foreign-

born. As the report outlines, a number of these terrorists were able to enter the

United States on the basis of family ties and extended-family chain migration.

Visa Lottery

Each year, the diversity visa lottery program randomly selects up to 50,000 foreign

nationals to apply for permanent residence (green cards) in the United States.

Many of them have absolutely no ties to the United States, and are not required to

have special skills or much education.

Randomly selecting foreign nationals from around the globe, including from state

sponsors of terrorism, and admitting them into the United States invites large

amounts of fraud and does not serve the national interest.

In 2004, the State Department’s Deputy Inspector General warned that the visa

lottery “contains significant threats to national security as hostile intelligence

officers, criminals, and terrorists attempt to use it to enter the United States as

permanent residents.” In 2013, the Inspector General recorded with alarm that the

visa lottery was subject to “pervasive and sophisticated fraud” perpetrated by

“organized fraud rings.”

In the last decade, the United States issued nearly 30,000 immigrant visas through

the visa lottery program to randomly selected nationals from countries

designated as “State Sponsors of Terrorism” by the State Department. In addition,

tens of thousands of immigrants admitted from these countries have been

admitted permanently into the United States through other immigration

categories (such as family-sponsored immigrants, as well as asylees, refugees, and

others).

National Security Threats

Below are just a few examples of terrorists and criminals who entered the United

States through chain migration or the visa lottery program:

Chain Migration

• Akayed Ullah, a Bangladeshi national, entered the United States in 2011

through chain migration. Ullah was allowed to enter the country as the family

member of a visa lottery winner. On December 12, 2017, Ullah allegedly

attempted to detonate a homemade pipe bomb in the New York City Port

Authority Bus Terminal. The failed explosion injured himself and four

bystanders.

• Ahmed Amin El-Mofty, an Egyptian national, entered the United States

through a distant relative (chain migration) and became a United States citizen

after arriving. Last month, El-Mofty was killed during a shootout after allegedly

opening fire and targeting police at multiple locations in Harrisburg,

Pennsylvania.

• Zoobia Shahnaz, a national of Pakistan, entered the United States through

chain migration as the distant relative of a United States citizen. On December

14, 2017, Shahnaz was indicted by the Department of Justice for allegedly

laundering bitcoin and wiring funds to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

• Mahmoud Amin Mohamed Elhassan, a national of Sudan, was admitted to the

United States in 2012 as a family member of a lawful permanent resident from

Sudan. In 2016, he pleaded guilty to attempting to provide material support to

ISIS, and in 2017 was subsequently sentenced to 11 years in prison.

• Khaleel Ahmed, a national of India, was admitted to the United States in 1998

as a family member of a naturalized United States citizen from India. In 2010,

he was sentenced to more than eight years in prison for conspiring to provide

material support to terrorists.

• Mufid Elfgeeh, a national of Yemen, was admitted to the United States in 1997

as a family member of a naturalized United States citizen from Yemen. Elfgeeh

subsequently became a United States citizen through naturalization. In 2016,

Elfgeeh was sentenced to more than 22 years in prison for attempting to recruit

fighters for ISIS.

• Uzair Paracha, a national of Pakistan, was admitted to the United States in

1980 through chain migration. In 2006, he was sentenced to 30 years in Federal

prison for providing material support to al Qaeda.

• Mohamad Saeed Kodaimati, a national of Syria, was admitted to the United

States in 2001 as a family member of a lawful permanent resident from Syria.

Kodaimati entered the United States with the family member. That family

member was previously admitted as the unmarried son or daughter of a lawful

permanent resident, who earlier received status as the parent of a United

States citizen. In 2016, Kodaimati was sentenced to 96 months in prison for

making false statements in a terrorism investigation.

Visa Lottery

• Sayfullo Saipov, a national of Uzbekistan, entered the United States in 2010

through the visa lottery program. On October 31, 2017, Saipov was arrested

after he allegedly used a truck to run down numerous pedestrians on a bike

lane on the west side of Manhattan, killing eight individuals.

• Abdurasaul Hasanovich Juraboev, a national of Uzbekistan, was admitted to

the United States as a visa lottery recipient in 2011. In 2015, he pleaded guilty

to conspiring to support ISIS, and in 2017 was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

• Ali Shukri Amin, a national of Sudan, was admitted to the United States in

1999 as the child of a visa-lottery recipient, and subsequently obtained United

States citizenship through naturalization. In 2015, he was sentenced to more

than 11 years in prison for conspiring to provide material support and

resources to ISIS.

• Hesham Mohamed Ali Hedayet, a national of Egypt, was able to claim Lawful

Permanent Resident status through a family member who received their status

via visa lottery in 1997. In July 2002, Hedayet opened fire at the El Al Airlines

ticket counter at LAX airport, murdering two ticket agents and wounding three

others.

• Imran Mandhai, a national of Pakistan, was able to immigrate to the United

States because he was the child of visa lottery winners. Mandhai pled guilty in

August 2002 to conspiring to bomb a National Guard Armory and electrical

power substations near Miami.

• Syed Haris Ahmed, a national of Pakistan, entered the United States as a visa

lottery winner. Ahmed was convicted in 2009 of terrorism-related activities in

the United States and abroad.

• Mousa Mohammed Abu Marzook, alleged United States Hamas leader,

received his green card through a predecessor program to the visa lottery.

Marzook was deported in 1997 for terrorist activities.

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