WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) announced today that Homeland Security Committee Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) has signed on to his bill to end the diversity visa lottery program.  The diversity visa lottery program currently gives out 50,000 visas every year.  Visas through the diversity visa lottery program are not given out based on employment, or family, or need, but instead are given out through a randomly selected lottery program.  According to reports, six terror-linked foreigners have entered the U.S. through the diversity lottery.

“I’d like to thank Chairman Johnson for joining me in this important effort to secure our immigration system,” said Sen. Kennedy.  “We need to have an immigration program that is at the very least merit-based in part.  You shouldn’t be picked to come to the United States based on the merit of luck.”

“Our immigration system needs to favor a merit-based approach, not one that admits immigrants on a random basis without regard for how an individual will contribute to our economy,” said Sen. Johnson.

The Uzbekistani terrorist Sayfullo Habibullaevic Saipov, who killed 8 people and injured almost a dozen pedestrians in New York City on Oct. 31 this year, entered the country after obtaining a visa through the diversity visa lottery program.  There have been national security concerns with the program for years.  In 2003, the inspector general of the State Department testified that the program “contains significant risks to national security from hostile intelligence officers, criminals and terrorists attempting to use the program for entry into the United States as permanent residents.”

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