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A28 u.s. news
Diahuebs 30 september 2021

U.S. diversity lottery winners wait on visas as time runs out

to “profound reductions” in and Europe. After the pan- was put into place as a dip-
its capacity to process visas. demic hit, the Trump admin- lomatic tool,” Morrison said.
While embassies and consul- istration put a freeze on many “The credibility of our tool,
ates have been instructed to green cards issued outside of we’re losing it. Instead, we’re
try to prioritize the lottery the United States, including looking like fraudsters.”
cases, the U.S. likely won’t these visas. Some of the af-
issue the number of visas it fected lottery applicants sued, Attorneys for the applicants
could for the soon-to-be- and a federal judge last year have again asked a judge to
ending fiscal year, the official ordered the administration to reserve visas so they don’t
said. reserve 9,000 diversity visas expire. The U.S. government
into the next year. opposes the move, saying set-
That is what worries Fuentes ting aside a large number of
Matos. As the deadline ap- The Biden administration visas will give the plaintiffs
proached for visas to be is- lifted the freeze on green better odds at getting a visa
(AP) - Dorisnelly Fuentes someone to help us because sued, she grew nervous she cards this year. But the State than lottery winners would
Matos may have won the we are here in the middle of would be asked to quickly Department still hasn’t is- normally have. U.S. Dis-
U.S. visa lottery on pa- nowhere,” said Fuentes Ma- attend a meeting with a U.S. sued most of this fiscal year’s trict Judge Amit P. Mehta in
per, but she still isn’t close tos, who is waiting in Guy- consular officer in Guyana. diversity visas, so another Washington said he will make
to reaching the United ana for an appointment and So she and her husband gave group of lottery winners now a decision before the visas are
States. is one of thousands suing the up their jobs, sold their home faces a similar predicament. set to expire Thursday.
U.S. government over the and bought plane tickets to
The 27-year-old Cuban eco- delays. “We are stuck in this travel a circuitous route via Curtis Lee Morrison, an im- Fuentes Matos is counting on
nomics student was notified country, and we can’t even go Spain and Panama to George- migration attorney represent- the judge to keep her hope of
more than a year ago that she back to Cuba.” town, where they have been ing thousands of diversity moving to the U.S. alive but
won a coveted spot to seek staying in a hostel and wait- visa applicants, said some of said she was only given per-
one of up to 55,000 visas that More than 20,000 people ing for the interview that still his clients have sold cars and mission to stay in Guyana for
the U.S. government gives have sued after they were hasn’t come. homes to pay for costs asso- three months. She said she
out each year in a lottery to declared winners of the visa ciated with the application, is one of four families there
increase the country’s diver- lottery and turned in the re- Winning the lottery is al- such as traveling to a third waiting for a consular inter-
sity. She filed the paperwork quired paperwork but never ready a stretch. Millions of country for a consular inter- view and doesn’t know what
to a State Department pro- got an interview or a shot at people sign up each year, and view. Applicants who are se- she will do if it doesn’t come
cessing center in Kentucky coming to the United States. only up to 55,000 visas are lected as winners and submit through.
and waited to be scheduled The government has issued awarded. The chance of get- all the required paperwork
for an interview at the U.S. about a quarter of the visas ting a winning ticket is in- showing they are eligible are She decided to enter the visa
embassy in Guyana, which allotted for the fiscal year finitesimal, and from there, still finding themselves out lottery in the hope of build-
handles Cubans’ visa applica- ending in September after they must wait in a line for a of luck due to the delays, ing a better life for herself
tions. processing was halted during consular interview. Even in a he said. Morrison said cli- and her husband, who was
the coronavirus pandemic typical year, not everyone will ents found his firm via social working as a taxi driver in
But the interview never and then resumed at a much get one before the U.S. runs media and despite the large Havana.
came. Now, the visas are set slower pace as other visa ap- out of visas for the year. number of plaintiffs, the suit
to expire Thursday, leaving plications got priority, their did not have class-action sta- “We left nothing in Cuba,”
her and her husband in lim- attorneys said. For years, the U.S. was large- tus. Fuentes Matos said. “We are
bo. ly issuing the diversity visas going through very difficult
A State Department offi- that were allotted, with most “When the diversity visa pro- times.”
“We are desperate, asking for cial said the pandemic led going to people from Africa gram was put into place, it

U.S. bans swimming with Hawaii’s nocturnal spinner dolphins

(AP) — U.S. regulators noes, stand-up paddleboards,
on Tuesday banned swim- drones or other objects.
ming with Hawaii’s spin- NOAA also is proposing a
ner dolphins to protect regulation that would pro-
the nocturnal animals hibit entering certain areas
from people seeking close between 6 a.m. and 3 p.m.
encounters with the play- in parts of the Big Island and
ful species. Maui that are considered es-
sential daytime habitats for
Swimming with dolphins is a spinner dolphins.
popular tourist activity in Ha-
waii. Several companies offer Spinner dolphins hunt in off-
tours that take swimmers to shore waters at night. During
areas frequented by dolphins the day, they use areas close
with the aim of giving them to shore that have optimal
an opportunity to get in the environmental conditions
water with the animals. to socialize, nurture their
young, hide from predators
The National Oceanic and and rest in preparation for
Atmospheric Administration nightly hunting.
rule under the Marine Mam-
mal Protection Act prohibits Hawaii’s spinner dolphins
swimming with or getting get their name from their
within 50 yards (46 meters) habit of leaping in the air
of a spinner dolphin that is and spinning around. Some
within 2 nautical miles (4 scientists say such behavior
kilometers) of the shore of is not always playfulness and
the main Hawaiian Islands. can instead be an attempt to
The rule applies to boats, ca- alert others to danger.