Nearly 15K Bangladeshis Entered U.S. Since 2007 by Winning ‘Visa Lottery’

Since 2007, nearly 15,000 Bangladeshi nationals have been allowed to come to the United States by winning the Diversity Visa Lottery, which randomly selects foreign nationals to bring to the U.S.

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

Under the Visa Lottery, 14,869 Bangladeshi nationals entered the U.S. between 2007 and 2012.

• 3,518 Visa Lottery winners in 2007
• 2,286 Visa Lottery winners in 2008
• 2,663 Visa Lottery winners in 2009
• 3,017 Visa Lottery winners in 2010
• 3,090 Visa Lottery winners in 2011
• 295 Visa Lottery winners in 2012

Since 2013, Bangladesh was thrown off the list of foreign countries eligible for the Visa Lottery because the country became one of the largest immigrant-sending countries to the U.S.

On Monday, 27-year-old Bangladeshi national Akayed Ullah allegedly attempted to detonate a bomb in New York City in a botched terrorist attack, leaving three individuals injured, Breitbart News reports.

Ullah entered the U.S. in 2011, coming to the country with his parents and three to four siblings, with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirming that the terror suspect came as a chain migrant.

Chain migration is the process by which new immigrants to the U.S. are allowed to bring an unlimited number of foreign relatives with them. As Breitbart News reported, chain migration has imported more than 140,000 Bangladeshi nationals to the U.S. since 2005.

In October, it was revealed that 29-year-old Sayfullo Saipov — the man who allegedly mowed down pedestrians in the Tribeca neighborhood of New York City — entered the U.S. in 2010 from Uzbekistan under the Visa Lottery before obtaining a Green Card.

As Breitbart News reported, since 2007, 28,783 foreign nationals from Iran, Syria, and Sudan — three countries which support international terrorism — have become legal immigrants into the United States through the Visa Lottery.