President Donald Trump on Wednesday vowed to cancel the US green card lottery.
He spoke in reaction to the discovery that a radicalized Uzbek man who staged the deadly truck that killed some persons in New York entered the country under the programme.
“I am starting the process of terminating the diversity lottery program,” Trump told reporters.
“We have to do what’s right to protect our citizens. We will get rid of this lottery program as soon as possible.”
Trump said Sayfullah Saipov, the driver who killed eight people in New York on October 31, 2017, migrated to the United States on the “green card” visa lottery program.
Saipov, 29, who was arrested after being shot by police, planned for weeks to undertake his attack in the name of Islamic State, following online instructions from the jihadist group, officials said.
The US Green card lottery programme awards US permanent resident visas to around 50,000 applicants from around the world each year, opening the door as well for members of their broader families to follow them.
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