美国国家公共电台 NPR How The Diversity Visa Lottery Works

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

One of the details we've learned about the suspect in the New York terror attack is that he was a native of Uzbekistan. He came to this country through a visa lottery¹ system. This lottery is open to people from countries that have sent relatively² few immigrants to the U.S. in recent years. Now, though, that program is under heightened scrutiny³, prompting calls to end it - those calls even coming from President Trump⁴. NPR's Richard Gonzales reports.

RICHARD GONZALES, BYLINE⁵: In 1995, Darakshan Raja's Pakistani parents applied⁶ to enter the United States through what's called the Diversity Visa Lottery. Her mother, a professor of English, wanted to pursue her career here. Raja recalls the long list of documents and certifications her parents had to provide.

DARAKSHAN RAJA: You need to get all original copies of your birth certificate, your entire academic history, your medical history. You need government reference letters. You need police certificates that say that the individuals who are applying for this don't have a criminal record.

GONZALES: Plus family and marriage records, financial statements proving her parents weren't poor and multiple English tests. And there was something else - at the age of 6, Raja herself was questioned by an American embassy official in Islamabad. She was asked...

RAJA: Do you believe in democracy, or do you believe in communism? Now you can imagine, at that age, I had no idea even what the words meant.

GONZALES: After Raja's parents were vetted⁷, then they were entered into a computer lottery. This Diversity Visa Lottery Program goes back to the 1980s, when its earliest version was created largely to benefit Irish immigrants. In the 1990s, Congress changed the program so that anyone from a country that doesn't already send many immigrants here can apply.

Fifty thousand visas are administered each year through an Internet site, and the application period is open until late November. The program has its critics. Many say the diversity visas could better be used to reduce the current backlog⁸ of people who have been waiting many years to enter this country.

STEPHEN YALE-LOEHR: If I'm a U.S. citizen and I have a brother or a sister in the Philippines that I want to sponsor for a green card, that brother or sister is going to have to wait over 20 years.

GONZALES: Cornell law professor Stephen Yale-Loehr.

YALE-LOEHR: And why should they have to wait that long when someone else can waltz into the United States in one or two years under the diversity program?

GONZALES: Security has been a concern, too, since the spouse⁹ of a diversity visa-holder from Egypt shot and killed two people at Los Angeles International Airport in 2002. And now, after the terrorist attack in New York, President Trump is calling on Congress to shut it down.

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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: It's a disaster for our country. This program grants visas not on a basis of merit but simply because applicants¹⁰ are randomly¹¹ selected in an annual lottery. And the people put in that lottery are not that country's finest.

GONZALES: In 2016, nearly half of the visas were granted to immigrants from Africa. The highest-ranking individual countries were Nepal, Egypt and Iran, followed by Uzbekistan, the home of the New York terror suspect.

Richard Gonzales, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF PLAID'S "HELD")

1 lottery   

n.抽彩；碰运气的事，难于算计的事

参考例句：

• He won no less than ￡5000 in the lottery.他居然中了5000英镑的奖券。
• They thought themselves lucky in the lottery of life.他们认为自己是变幻莫测的人生中的幸运者。

2 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

3 scrutiny   

n.详细检查，仔细观察

参考例句：

• His work looks all right,but it will not bear scrutiny.他的工作似乎很好，但是经不起仔细检查。
• Few wives in their forties can weather such a scrutiny.很少年过四十的妻子经得起这么仔细的观察。

4 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

7 vetted   

v.审查（某人过去的记录、资格等）( vet的过去式和过去分词 )；调查；检查；诊疗

参考例句：

• The recruits were thoroughly vetted before they were allowed into the secret service. 情报机关招募的新成员要经过严格的审查。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• All staff are vetted for links with extremist groups before being employed. 所有职员录用前均须审查是否与极端分子团体有关。 来自辞典例句

8 backlog   

n.积压未办之事

参考例句：

• It will take a month to clear the backlog of work.要花一个月的时间才能清理完积压的工作。
• Investment is needed to reduce the backlog of repairs.需要投资来減轻积压的维修工作。

9 spouse   

n.配偶(指夫或妻)

参考例句：

• Her spouse will come to see her on Sunday.她的丈夫星期天要来看她。
• What is the best way to keep your spouse happy in the marriage?在婚姻中保持配偶幸福的最好方法是什么？

10 applicants   

申请人，求职人( applicant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were over 500 applicants for the job. 有500多人申请这份工作。
• He was impressed by the high calibre of applicants for the job. 求职人员出色的能力给他留下了深刻印象。

11 randomly   

adv.随便地，未加计划地

参考例句：

• Within the hot gas chamber, molecules are moving randomly in all directions. 在灼热的气体燃烧室内，分子在各个方向上作无规运动。 来自辞典例句
• Transformed cells are loosely attached, rounded and randomly oriented. 转化细胞则不大贴壁、圆缩并呈杂乱分布。 来自辞典例句