The Last Diversity Visa Lottery?

The diversity lottery is an abomination.

And seriously? Fourteen million people have puts their names in for it this year? God, what are the odds? Not much better than PowerBall, that's for sure.

At WaPo, "Despite Trump, millions hope to win what could be the last U.S. green card lottery":

Despite Trump, millions hope to win what could be the last U.S. green card lottery https://t.co/82b9tSwUax

— Washington Post (@washingtonpost) May 1, 2017

On Tuesday, more than 14 million people around the world, including anxious applicants in the Washington area, will begin checking computers and smartphones in one of the strangest rituals of the U.S. immigration system. When the clock strikes noon in the nation’s capital, they will be able to visit a State Department website, enter their names, years of birth and 16-digit identification numbers. Then they will press “submit” to learn whether they have won one of the world’s most coveted contests: the U.S. green card lottery.

Each year, the Diversity Visa Lottery, as it is officially known, provides up to 55,000 randomly selected foreigners — fewer than 1 percent of those who enter the drawing — with permanent residency in the United States.

The current lottery coincides with an intense debate over immigration and comes amid policy changes that have made the country less welcoming to new arrivals. President Trump has cracked down on illegal immigration and pressed forward with plans to build a wall along the border with Mexico. He has issued executive orders targeting foreign workers, refugees and travelers from certain majority-Muslim countries.

But he hasn’t said a word about the green card lottery...

Keep reading.

And ICYMI, see Steven Camarota, at Foreign Affairs, "The Case Against Immigration: Why the United States Should Look Out for Itself."