A federal judge forces Trump to grant 55,000 'green cards' that had been paralyzed by the pandemic

A federal judge from the District of Columbia has provisionally prohibited the Government chaired by Donald Trump from applying its immigration veto to foreign citizens who gained permanent residency thanks to the diversity visa lottery, thus ruling that the State Department's refusal to grant those

is probably illegal.

In an 85-page judicial order advanced this Friday by the informative website Law360, Judge Amit P. Mehta assures that the federal government has "unreasonably delayed the processing" of the

for the winners of that lottery and their Family members, who have been prevented from traveling to the United States due to the migration policies implemented by the Government in spring due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Thus, the judge orders the Government to "carry out the efforts in good faith" necessary to "quickly process and adjudicate" permanent residence applications before September 30, when the 2020 fiscal year ends. [

[This family won the green card to emigrate to the United States.

But Trump's veto put them in the worst dilemma of their lives]

The Diversity Visa Program, created in 1990 to promote the country's ethnic and cultural diversity, issues 55,000

each year 

to people from underrepresented countries in the United States.

This year the result of the random draw by which visas are distributed among all applications received from around the planet (up to 14 million) was delayed due to the coronavirus epidemic.

The raffle rules stipulate that winners must receive their green card before September 30 or they will lose it, but the closure of embassies and consulates abroad made the process difficult, and the ban on the issuance of permanent residence cards approved by Trump (arguing that in the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus it is necessary to give priority to American workers) it seemed to destroy the hopes of the beneficiaries.