US lawmaker introduces bill to permanently scrap diversity visa lottery after court forces revival

A federal showdown over American immigration policy has intensified on Capitol Hill following a judicial order to revive a major green card pathway.

Republican Representative Keith Self of Texas has introduced legislation seeking to permanently repeal the Diversity Immigrant Visa Lottery program. The legislative push arrives directly on the heels of a federal court ruling that compelled the US State Department to reinstate the program after months of administrative suspension.

The Diversity Visa Lottery program traditionally awards up to 55,000 permanent resident visas each year to applicants hailing from countries with historically low rates of immigration to the United States, a significant portion of whom come from African nations.

However, the administration halted the program last December. The suspension followed an incident involving a Portuguese national who had entered the country through the lottery system and was subsequently suspected of killing four people in a series of shootings across Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

Following legal challenges, federal judges intervened to set aside the halt and mandate the resumption of processing and application windows. Condemning the judicial intervention, Representative Self argued that the courts should not dictate the country's security framework.

“The American people elected Donald Trump and this Republican Congress to put America first. That means securing our borders and ending failed immigration policies,” Self said in a statement. “We cannot allow liberal judges to force the administration to continue a failed immigration program.”

The newly proposed bill has been formally referred to the House Judiciary Committee for evaluation. While the judicial directives currently keep portions of the lottery operational or under review, the legislative effort aims to dismantle the initiative entirely.