White House: At Least Six Foreign Terrorists Entered U.S. Through 'Visa Lottery' Program

The federal visa lottery program has invited at least six known terrorists or terror suspects to live among Americans, says a list released by the White House today.

The Diversity Visa Lottery gives out 50,000 visas every year to foreign nationals from a multitude of countries, including those with known terrorist problems – such as Afghanistan, Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Iran Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Syria, Sudan, Trinidad, Tobago, Venezuela, Yemen, and Uzbekistan.

Sayfullo Saipov, a 29-year-old Uzbek national, is the latest terror suspect to have used the Visa Lottery to enter the U.S. Last month, Saipov allegedly left at least eight individuals dead when he mowed them down in New York City with a rental vehicle.

Now, White House officials say they’ve identified another five terrorists who used the Visa Lottery to enter the U.S.

• Just a few days prior to Saipov’s attack in New York City, another Uzbek national and Visa Lottery winner, Abdurasul Hasanovich Juraboev, was sentenced to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiring to provide material support to Islamic State terrorists.

• In July 2002, Egyptian national, Hesham Mohamed Ali Hedayet, opened fire at the El Al Airlines ticket counter at LAX airport, murdering two ticket agents and wounding three others. Hadayet first arrived in the United States in 1992, but was only able to claim Lawful Permanent Resident status when his wife was randomly selected as a Visa Lottery winner in 1997.

• In August 2002, Pakistani national, Imran Mandhai, pled guilty to conspiring to bomb a National Guard Armory and electrical power substations near Miami. Mandhai was able to immigration to the U.S. because his parents were Visa Lottery winners.

• In 2009, Pakistani national, Syed Haris Ahmed, was convicted of terrorism-related activities in the United States and abroad. Ahmed entered the U.S. as a Visa Lottery winner.

• In 1997, Mousa Mohammed Abu Marzook, a U.S. Hamas leader, was deported for terrorist activities. Marzook received a Green Card through the predecessor program to the Visa Lottery.

The Visa Lottery has been slammed by President Trump as leaving Americans vulnerable to a legal immigration system that works against their interests when it comes to the economy, wages, national security, and terrorism.

Foreign nationals from eligible countries can win the visa lottery if they have a high school degree and two years of work experience. Once they win the green cards to permanently stay in the United States, the migrants can bring in their spouses and minor children. Each arrival can get citizenship in five years, and then begin choosing members of their extended family — including parents, siblings, and their children — to also become U.S. residents and citizens – regardless of their character, education, ideology, or security risks. This expanding, unscreened immigration system is known as “chain migration,” and it has more than doubled U.S. immigration rates since the 1980s.

The Center for Immigration Studies recently revealed that an estimated five million foreign nationals have come to the U.S. under the Visa Lottery, whether as winners of the lottery or as relatives of lottery winners, as Breitbart News reported.