In the 1980s undocumented Irish immigrants convinced United States lawmakers to create a program that would provide a path to citizenship for individuals without family connections in the United States. That program eventually became the Diversity Visa Lottery, established as part of the Immigration Act of 1990. Despite the program’s roots in demand from Irish immigrants, the majority of the recipients of diversity visas have been awarded to immigrants from Africa, with more than 480,000 individuals and their families immigrating to the United States from Africa between 1995 and 2022 via the Diversity Visa Program.
Joining me this week for a deep dive into the diversity visa lottery, and its impact on West African countries, is historian Dr. Carly Goodman, Senior Editor at the Washington Posts’s Made by History and author of Dreamland: America’s Immigration Lottery in an Age of Restriction.
Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music “Melancholic Afrobeat” by artbybigvee from Pixabay and is available in the public domain. The episode image is “Loterie Americaine visa services in French and English in Yaoundé, Cameroon, 2015,” and is used by permission of the photographer, Carly Goodman.

Additional sources:

“Find out if you are eligible for the Diversity Visa (DV) Lottery and how to register,” USA.gov.

“Immigration History Timeline,” Immigration History.

“Fifty Years On, the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act Continues to Reshape the United States,” by Muzaffar Chishti, Faye Hipsman, and Isabel Ball, Migration Policy Institute, October 15, 2015.

“Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 – Civil Rights Movement Era,” The Asian American Education Project.

“European Immigrants in the United States,” by Elijah Alperin and Jeanne Batalova, Migration Policy Institute, August 1, 2018.

“1986: Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986,” Library of Congress.

“Diversity visa lottery, criticized after New York terrorist attack, was invented to help the Irish,” by Michael E. Miller, The Washington Post,  November 1, 2017.

“The ‘Diversity’ Green Card Lottery Was Originally for White Immigrants,” by Becky Little, History.com, Originally posted November 2, 2017; Updated March 9, 2019.

“U.S. Lottery will award 20,000 visas in 1989-90,” by Karlyn Barker, The Washington Post, March 2, 1989.

“While Immigration Reform Waits, Lottery Fills the Void,” by Lisa Wormwood, Special to The Christian Science Monitor, April 13, 1989.

“Fact Sheet: Temporary Protected Status (TPS),” National Immigration Forum, updated February 1, 2023.

“Temporary Protected Status,” U.S. Department of Justice.

“Family Reunification Is the Bedrock of U.S. Immigration Policy,” by Philip E. Wolgin, The Center for American Progress, February 12, 2018.

“What is the Diversity Visa Program?” FWD.us, September 14, 2022.


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