On: Dear Congressman Gutierrez, Please Lift Your Hold ...

[spamizbad]

I'm also really disappointed the OP brushed aside the 55K diversity visas as some sort of joke. Many people in that lottery are those who tried to obtain political asylum but could not.

Are you trying to escape poverty, war, and persecution? Well, if you can code me up this idea real quick...

[yummyfajitas → spamizbad]

Many people in that lottery are those who tried to obtain political asylum but could not.

I.e., people who were unable to convince an immigration official that they really were "trying to escape poverty, war, and persecution".

There is no quota on political asylum. If you can convince an immigration official that you'll be persecuted if you go home, you don't get sent home.

[anigbrowl → yummyfajitas]

Unfortunately the definition of 'persecuted' is quite narrowly defined. If you browse through Bender's Immigration Bulletin or Interpreter Releases (the two 'trade journals' of immigration law) you'll read of all kinds of horrific cases that are deemed not to meet the standard for sufficient persecution. The intention of the law is good, but the implementation is often somewhat lacking.