As President Trump called Wednesday to end the immigration program that brought the New York City terror suspect to the United States, Nashville immigration attorneys have reacted.
It's called the Diversity Visa program, created in 1990 to increase immigration from countries underrepresented in legal entries.
Applicants enter a lottery for up to 50,000 visas, and must complete the same background checks as other immigration programs.
Immigration attorneys in Nashville, who represent those who benefit from the Diversity Visa lottery, say there's no link between the program and terrorism.
"Yes, there was this one individual who committed a terrible act yesterday," said immigration attorney Bruce Buchanan. "But was it because he came in on the diversity lottery? No."
In 2013, the so-called "Gang of 8" bill that passed in the U.S. Senate would have ended the Diversity Visa program and implemented broader immigration reform, but it failed in the house.
