Approved Iranian immigrants being blocked from US entry, lawsuit filed
Iranians who have been selected as recipients of the diversity immigrant visas to the US, also known as the green lottery, have been blocked from continuing with the immigration process. A lawsuit seeks to help them reach the US.
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Immigration is used as a diplomatic tool by the US government, but critics say it's not fairly administered to all nationalities. [Getty]
Rights advocates are concerned over the continued prevention of Iranians who have qualified for US immigrant visas from immigrating to the US. A lawsuit seeks to move the process forward in their migration to the US.
Iranians who entered the fiscal year 2022 immigrant visa lottery and were selected in May 2021 and were selected among millions of entries are now being prevented from even getting an interview.
"The same people held back by those [former President Trump] bans are being held back by the Biden administration," Curtis Morrison, a partner with Morrison Urena, representing the 149 Iranian immigrant plaintiffs in the Council on American-Islamic Relations V. Antony Blinken, told The New Arab.
"A lot of people were refused under the Trump administration. He's continuing to create this backlog," said Morrison, noting that there are three embassies serving Iranian US visa applicants: Abu Dhabi, Ankara and Yerevan, as there is no US diplomatic presence in Iran. "These embassies have huge backlogs."
The case, which Morrison is hopeful the judge will decide in their clients' favour, will need to be wrapped up by the end of the fiscal year, which is 30 September, or his clients will need to restart the process from scratch.
"A lot of them feel betrayed," he said. "The US government uses this lottery as a diplomatic tool: 'look at how great we are'. They say: go register. Instead of a diplomatic tool, it's being used as a weapon. They won't win hearts and minds with a fake lottery. It's all about how they're implemented. I don't think immigration is a priority for Blinken."
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