Legislative Update

According to The Rockbridge Weekly, Congressman Bob Goodlatte reintroduced the Visa Lottery Elimination Act, which would eliminate the visa lottery program from the Immigration and Nationality Act. Under the visa lottery program, visas are issued to 50,000 aliens at random allowing them to become legal permanent residents of the U.S.

Goodlatte argued that the visa lottery program poses a national security threat. An example is the case of Hesham Mohamed Ali Hedayet, the Egyptian national who killed two and wounded three in a shooting spree at the Los Angeles International Airport in July of 2002. Hedayet was a beneficiary of the lottery, he and his family earned permanent resident status after his wife won the federal visa lottery.

“The nature of the lottery is such that we have no control over who applies for admission to our nation. Those who wish us harm can easily engage in this statistical gamble with nothing to lose,” Goodlatte said.

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The Associated Press reported that Circuit Judge Barbara Wallace ruled that two ordinances aimed at keeping illegal immigrants out of the St. Louis suburb Valley Park violate Missouri law.

In July, Valley Park aldermen adopted an ordinance that penalized any business for “aiding and abetting” illegal immigrants and renting them property. The penalties included lost business permits and fines. On September 26, Wallace issued a temporary restraining order to prevent Valley Park from enforcing the law. Later that day the alderman passed another ordinance making it illegal to hire, employ or rent to illegal immigrants. On September 27, Wallace issued a temporary order stopping enforcement of that law too, and the city later repealed it.

Wallace made the first ruling in the country that permanently blocks ordinances dealing with illegal immigration.

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For more information on the immigration on Capital Hill, see our blog at www.visalaw.com/blog.html. 

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