{"id":10355,"date":"2017-11-02T03:28:42","date_gmt":"2017-11-02T03:28:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=10355"},"modified":"2017-11-02T03:28:42","modified_gmt":"2017-11-02T03:28:42","slug":"us-shouldnt-give-up-benefits-of-green-card-lottery-over-low-risk-of-terrorism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/us-shouldnt-give-up-benefits-of-green-card-lottery-over-low-risk-of-terrorism\/","title":{"rendered":"US shouldn’t give up benefits of ‘green card lottery’ over low risk of terrorism"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ethan Lewis<\/a>, Dartmouth College<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

After a man barreled down a New York City bike path on Oct. 31, killing eight, President Donald Trump reacted by calling for an end<\/a> to the \u201cgreen card lottery\u201d program that allowed the attacker<\/a> to enter the country. <\/p>\n

The Diversity Immigrant Visa Program<\/a>, as it is officially known, has been in the sights of the president for a while. In August, Trump publicly backed<\/a> a GOP bill that would end the program and replace it with a merit-based system. <\/p>\n

Trump and his fellow Republicans have long decried illegal immigration, but they have traditionally favored<\/a> the legal kind, partly because their business donors demand it<\/a>. <\/p>\n

As someone who researches the impact of immigration on workers, I believe their plans to change who can enter the country legally is a big mistake. We would be giving up a program that benefits American workers with very little chance of a gain in safety.<\/p>\n

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\n While the driver reportedly entered the country through a green card, very few Americans have been killed by recipients of such visas.<\/span>
\n AP Photo\/Bebeto Matthews<\/span><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Curbing immigration<\/h2>\n

While Trump\u2019s tweets<\/a> about the lottery program are based on security concerns, the usual argument supporting curbs on immigration is that new arrivals hurt native-born American workers and the economy at large. <\/p>\n

I\u2019ll leave analyzing the security concerns to other experts; suffice it to say that the risk, according to experts, is very small<\/a>. Green card holders have killed just 16 people<\/a> \u2013 including yesterday \u2013 in terror attacks on U.S. soil since 1975.<\/p>\n

As for the economic impact on U.S.-born workers, the key thing to bear in mind is that the more homogeneous and similar immigrants are to natives, the greater the odds they\u2019ll in fact have a negative effect.<\/p>\n

In contrast, immigrants who come from diverse backgrounds with a range of skills \u2013 such as the lottery winners and the so-called \u201cDreamers\u201d \u2013 tend to produce greater economic benefits. That may be one reason at least some Republicans<\/a> and most Americans<\/a> are in favor of keeping the Deferred Action for Child Arrivals program that protects the Dreamers from deportation, which Trump recently ended<\/a>. <\/p>\n

A new approach<\/h2>\n

Currently, the U.S. receives a lot of immigrants without a college degree or with imperfect English. About half of immigrants fit either description.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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