Migrants at risk of losing green card lottery if GOP House wins fight

FIRST ON FOX: Republican lawmakers are seeking to end a government program that "undermines national security" by allowing a "faceless computer code" to randomly distribute visas to migrants through a lottery system, Fox News Digital has learned. 

The Diversity Immigrant Visa Program (DV Program), which is run by the State Department, holds an annual lottery where up to 55,000 green cards are given out to immigrants who are then granted permanent resident status through a randomized draw.

The program has been in political debate for years among lawmakers who have raised national security concerns over randomly choosing migrants to receive residency rather than going through a merit-based selection process. 

On Wednesday, Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga. introduced the Security and Fairness Enhancement for America Act of 2025, shared first with Fox News Digital, that aims to end the visa lottery and eliminate the ability for lottery winners to immediately sponsor family members for preferential green cards.

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"The Diversity Visa Program is a needless exercise in government virtue signaling. We’ve opened our country up to an almost endless system of chain migration while throwing a dart at the globe and letting faceless computer code determine a path to citizenship for 50,000 immigrants," Collins said in a statement. 

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Collins added that "ending the Visa Lottery is commonsense" and that his bill "will reform our broken immigration system and realign our nation's priorities back to the America First immigration policies that we need."

The DV Program currently allows applicants who meet a certain eligibility requirement to apply online. To apply, applicants must come from countries with historically low rates of immigration and complete at least a high school education.

In 2017, several Republican lawmakers raised concern over the visa lottery after winner Sayfullo Saipov, a terrorist who was granted residency through the program in 2010, killed eight people in New York by driving a truck into a crowd on Halloween.

Another accused terrorist, Akayed Ullah, was also granted a visa through the program, according to Republican Sen. John Boozman's office.

Cosponsors of the bill include Republican Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee, Rep. Brandon Gill of Texas, Rep. Mike Haridopolos of Florida, Rep. Daniel Webster of Florida, Rep. Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin, and Rep. Troy Nehls of Texas.

The legislation is also backed by both the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, and Numbers USA, an immigration reform group. 

"U.S. visa holders should represent the best and brightest immigrants from all over the world who share the commitment to advance American values," Ryan Walker, Heritage Action Executive Vice President said in a statement shared with Fox. "Issuing visas based on arbitrary "diversity" quotas undermines national security, restricts opportunities for skilled talent, and fails to foster true diversity."