Does America owe everyone in the world a lottery ticket chance to gain entry to our homeland? Sayfullo Saipov, the jihadi who mowed down bikers and pedestrians in New York City, shouting “Allahu akbar!” (“Allah is supreme!”) before being shot and captured, was in this country thanks to the Diversity Visa Process that operates as if our first duty is to make sure everyone has a shot at immigrating here, instead of picking who will benefit Americans. The State Department instructs applicants (as Saipov was years ago):

Section 203(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) provides for a class of immigrants known as “diversity immigrants,” from countries with historically low rates of immigration to the United States. A limited number of visas are available each fiscal year. The DVs are distributed among six geographic regions and no single country may receive more than seven percent of the available DVs in any one year.

This program blindly prefers ethnic fragmentation (aka, diversity).  There is zero weight placed on benefit to Americans.  Let public schools try to find teachers who can instruct students in languages like Khmer, Turkish, and Sinhala (languages in which it is possible to apply for diversity visas) and  It is the opposite of President Trump’s injunction of “America first,” and unsurprisingly President Trump has proposed ending it.

Neil Munro wrote on August 2:

President Donald Trump today joined with two GOP Senators to introduce his merit-based immigration reform, which is designed to help millions of Americans hurt by the nation’s current cheap-labor immigration policies.

The RAISE Act “will reduce poverty, increase wages and save taxpayers billions and billions of dollars,” Trump told reporters in the Roosevelt Room of the White House. “This legislation demonstrates our compassion for struggling American families who deserve an immigration system that puts their needs first, and that puts America first.”

The current immigration system, said Trump:

has placed substantial pressure on American workers, taxpayers and community resources, and among those hit the hardest … are minority workers competing for jobs against brand new arrivals. It has not been fair to our people, to our citizens, to our workers … [this RAISE act] will give Americans a pay raise by reducing immigration… [and] it will restore the sacred bonds of trust between America and its citizens. (snip)

The bill was drafted and is being pushed by Georgia Sen. David Perdue and Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton. (snip)

Each year, only one-in-15 of the 1 million green card immigrants is accepted because of their ability to grow the economy, said Cotton.

“It is imperative that our immigration system focuses on high skilled workers who can add value to our economy and ultimately achieve their own version of the American dream,” said Perdue.

Tom Cotton later told Breitbart,

“The diversity lottery serves no discernible humanitarian or economic interest,” Cotton explained to Breitbart News. “It is a policy that has far outlived its usefulness and it really doesn’t even serve diversity since Europe is one of the primary uses of it. Even in past efforts at amnesty-first comprehensive immigration reform like we saw in 2013 and 2007, most people agree we should eliminate the diversity lottery. I think it’s a policy that has far outlived its usefulness if it ever had any utility and it’s time to eliminate the diversity lottery.”

John Binder noted:

Center for Immigration Studies National Security Policy Director Janice Kephart testified before Congress about the security risks associated with the visa program.

“The Diversity Visa Program is an unfortunate blind spot in our immigration system that has outlived whatever purpose it might have had,” Kephart explained in her testimony in 2011. “The applicants for these 50,000 ‘visa lottery’ immigration slots require few skills. Neither their qualifications nor identity can be properly vetted. The program does not know, really, who these applicants are or their true purpose in coming to the United States. The program is a national security vulnerability and has been used by terrorists and organized criminals to not only enter the United States but to bring others in as well.”

Saipov’s horror may at last spur long overdue reform of our visa system.  Let the foes of President Trump argue that the most important thing is to be fair to foreigners and make sure we have given everyone a random chance of coming into this country to live, instead of choosing people with skills we need, who will not become a burden on the taxpayers, but will rather contribute to our welfare. Or, in a tiny but lethal percentage of sharia-believing Muslims, inflict horrific terror upon us.