Our immigration policy is stupid.  Unlike Canada, which screens immigrants for those who can add jobs and contribute to its economy, we mainly rely on "family reunification" that prioritizes extended family relatives of immigrants already here.  And among the immigrants who get here without a relative here, the United States hands out this precious opportunity as a lottery prize to 55,000 foreign nationals a year.  There is no upside for Americans to the "Diversity Visa Lottery Program" and a huge downside.

The Visa Lottery randomly gives out about 55,000 visas every year to foreign nationals from a multitude of countries, including those with known terrorist problems — such as Afghanistan, Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, and Uzbekistan.

Requirements for foreign nationals to win the visa lottery are low, with the foreign national only needing a high school degree and two years of work experience. Despite the weak prerequisites needed to obtain the visa, foreign nationals can later obtain green cards to permanently stay in the U.S. and after living in the country for five years can become American citizens and begin bringing their extended relatives to the country, a system known as "chain migration."

Uzbek national Sayfullo Saipov entered US on Diversity Visa
Trump has repeatedly demanded the visa be ended https://t.co/UX2cU9rTPc

— John Binder рџ‘Ѕ (@JxhnBinder) November 1, 2017

The downside multiplies when combined with the family reunification policy. John Binder writes at Breitbart:

Since 2005, Breitbart News reported, more than half a million foreign nationals have come to the U.S. by randomly winning the Visa Lottery, bringing with them a chain migration of five million foreign nationals since 1994, according to researchers at the Center for Immigration Studies.

Five million people here who have not demonstrated any ability to contribute to our welfare. Because we are so generous with benefits for low-income people — food stamps, the "refundable tax credit" program that sends checks to low-income people, and a long list of other subsidies like Section 8 housing vouchers — the odds are the foreigners who come here without special qualifications to fit into an advanced economy will be collecting benefits from the tax payments taken from American citizens.

The other part of allowing in randos: there are a lot of countries where dangerous people are numerous.

Over the last half-decade between 2012 and 2016, as Breitbart News reported, 72,794 foreign nationals have come to the U.S. on the Visa Lottery from countries that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency has designated as terrorist-sponsors.

News that a foreign terror suspect — an Uzbekistan man accused of being an ISIS sniper and firearms instructor — entered the United States on the and gained US citizenship ought to cause President Trump to call for an end to the program.  Let a Senate Republican introduce such a bill and Mitch McConnell shepherd it to passage.  Then start hitting Nancy Pelosi with demands for a House vote.

Best of all: The Squad will almost certainly call this a racist measure, which puts the issue in the spotlight and forces Democrats to defend the lottery approach.

Photo credit: St. Charles, Mo. Dept. of Corrections.