DREAMLAND

Exploration of an obscure corner of immigration law tinged with racism and politicization.

Dating to the Cold War, a lottery system that in 1995 offered some 55,000 visas for Africans to move to the U.S. provided “a rare alternative to a long-standing sense of global marginalization.” There were 6.5 million applications for those visas. Naturally, scams soon abounded, with entrepreneurs promising shortcuts to success. Then the business of admitting entrants from any country—but particularly majority Black countries—fell into the morass of legislative and political dealing, especially in what Goodman, senior editor of the Made by History site at the Washington Post, characterizes as the openly racist Trump administration. “What has become clearer over time is that those who seek to eliminate the diversity visa lottery,” she writes, “do so because it represents a threat to white power in America.” Conversely, proponents of the diversity lottery view it as an expression of pluralistic democracy in action. Trump tried to undo it, though his efforts were thwarted, such that in 2019 about 110,000 green card recipients were from Africa. Because these recipients can bring family members with them, the process further runs up against foes of “chain migration,” an objection that, oddly enough, seems never to arise when the immigrants are White. Goodman looks at the history of Irish migration in several waves, with comparatively few roadblocks. However, she adds, the demographics have shifted, with most immigrants arriving not from Europe but Latin America, Asia, and Africa. Goodman offers a strong defense for the visa lottery, which is not weighted by country, allowing immigrants from all over Africa. Moreover, it has proven to be an instrument of goodwill not just in the Cold War era, but also in the post–9/11 years. As one Ghanaian told the author, “In the whole world it is only America that is open,” a sentiment that altogether too many nativists would like to disprove.

A well-reasoned, evenhanded account of the immigration system.