Visas for Iranians Increase Since 9/11

CNS News
Posted: 2007-09-29 21:11:05

(CNSNews.com) - After 9/11, the State Department allowed more and more Iranians to legally enter the United States through Diversity Visas, an immigration program that two government investigations have identified as a national security risk. Iran, among four other nations, is defined as a terror-sponsoring state by the State Department.

State Department documents tracking the Diversity Visa (DV) program from 1997 through 2006 show that Iran went from 525 citizens entering the United States on DVs in 2001 to 785 citizens in 2002. That number fluctuated before 2006 when 543 DVs were issued to Iranians, but every year since 2001 surpassed pre-2001 levels of DVs issued to Iranians.

The State Department also lists Syria, Sudan, Cuba, and North Korea as terror-sponsoring countries - all places where Diversity Visas were issued since 9/11. In all, 9,800 aliens from terror-sponsoring countries have immigrated to the United States using Diversity Visas since the program began. Nearly 7,000 of those have come after 9/11.

Iran leads the way with 2,486 DVs issued since 2002. Last year, 1,361 Iranians won a lottery to be eligible for DVs to enter the United States this year, but the State Department has not released the official number of diversity visas issued for 2007. Five hundred forty-three Iranians entered the United States with DVs in 2006.

If past years are a guide, fewer people actually get the visas than win the DV lotteries because of eligibility requirements and screenings. For example, 820 Iranians won the lottery in 2005, but only 450 got visas.

Number of U.S. Diversity Visas issued to the five terror-sponsor states since Sept. 11, 2001.

Country and Number of Diversity Visas

Iran 2,486
Sudan 2,088
Cuba 1,877
Syria 443
North Korea 5

Total: 6,899

Source: U.S. Department of State

Congress created the Diversity Visa program in 1990 to increase immigration to the United States from those nations that have low rates of immigrants to America. The State Department, which administers the program, is authorized to distribute 50,000 DVs each year, which are awarded by a lottery to aliens who have registered for the program.

Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), who sponsored the original legislation creating the diversity visa program, successfully staved off efforts to eliminate the program last year. Speaking on the Senate floor on May 24, 2006, Kennedy said "the diversity visa is not about who you know, or to whom you are related."

"It is a totally unique program because anyone with a high school degree or two years of meaningful work experience can apply," Kennedy continued in his floor speech.

"Without the Diversity Visa program, our family- and employment-based immigration system would ensure that virtually all immigrants to the United States would come from just a small handful of states. The Diversity program ensures that America continues to be a beacon to the entire world, and not just to a dozen or so countries with high numbers of immigrants already living here.""

Citizens from countries that have sent fewer than 50,000 immigrants to the U.S. over the last five years are eligible. This includes people from all five nations listed by the State Department as terrorism-sponsors. The Bureau of Counselor Affair's Kentucky Consular Center in Williamsburg, Ky., runs the DV program and conducts the lottery.

"If you won, you're going to do all you can to come up with the right documents, and it's easy to come up with documents in some countries," Jessica Vaughan, a senior policy analyst with the Center for Immigration Studies, told Cybercast News Service.

Vaughn formerly worked for the State Department's Bureau of Consular Affairs office in Belgium.

"With other visa programs you have to prove you are eligible and then qualify. This is the opposite," she said.

In 2003, the State Department's inspector general recommended terminating the DV program in those countries listed by the State Department as sponsors of terrorism.

The State Department did not adopt the recommendation and continued to distribute Diversity Visas in those countries, because it apparently was concerned that ending the program would prevent law-abiding people from escaping oppressive regimes.

But even eliminating the program would fall short of keeping America safe, said Vaughan.

"Even if you shut it down in those countries, what's to prevent a citizen of one of those countries from just going to another country and obtaining documentation to apply for a visa?" she said.

Sudan has had 2,088 people enter the United States through DVs since 9/11. In the lottery last year, another 569 qualified to apply for a DV, but the State Department hasn't released the 2007 numbers yet.

Only five have obtained DVs from North Korea to enter the United States since 9/11, and just six North Koreans won the lottery in 2006 to be eligible for visas this year.

In Syria, 443 people obtained DVs between 2002 and 2006, while 40 people from that country won the lottery to get visas in 2007. In Cuba, 1,877 people have obtained DVs, while 427 won the lottery to qualify for DVs in 2007.

A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report last week said that because of identity fraud and lack of adequate and trustworthy databases, the Diversity Visa program is a national security risk.

The report cited one State Department cable, sent from a U.S. consulate in Bangladesh, which called the program an "open door" for terrorists to enter the United States as immigrants with legal permanent-resident visas.

The State Department rebutted the GAO report in a written response, claiming that security measures are in place and, "We do not see the DV program as uniquely vulnerable and every DV 'winner' who pursues his or her case is vetted in a manner identified to all immigrant visa applicants."

However, the GAO report said an "applicant with no previous record in U.S. government agency databases or an applicant who is using a false identity may not be detected as a potential security concern."

"I don't think there is any way to fix the program," Vaughan said. "There is no national interest I can think of. It's immigration for immigration's sake. It just provides a handy opportunity for organized crime and terrorists to obtain permanent status because their name is picked by a computer in Kentucky."