Injunction to be filed to stop Green Card lottery drawing

Previous ‘winners’ take action to force State Dept. to acknowledge them

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NIALL O'DOWD,

IrishCentral.com Founder

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Lottery applicants who were erroneously informed they had won will file an injunction today to prevent the diversity lottery taking place on July 15th until their case is dealt with

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Green Card lottery ‘winners,’  who had their visas snatched away after a State Department mix up, will  file an injunction today to prevent the diversity lottery taking place on July 15th until their case is dealt with.

Eight Irish ‘winners’ led by London based Stuart McBrien, who is leading the effort to force the State Department to recognize their lottery win, are involved in the class action suit.
 
 McBrien, stated :  “The injunction is the only fair way to move forward. Without it all the available visas will be allocated by the time our court case is heard – so even if we win, it will be pointless for me and thousands of others.  This is the only way that that justice can be done.”
 
A class action  lawsuit was filed against the State Department on June 16, 2011 seeking to reinstate a commitment first made, then broken, to 22,000 would-be immigrants to the United States who were originally told they had won the lottery but were later told that due to a computer glitch they had not.

The blunder, already admitted by the State Department, saw 22,000 individuals who were proceeding down a legal route to immigrate to the United States, have their applications cancelled.

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The injunction request to stop the lottery will be  filed in support of the class action lawsuit, being brought against the State Department, with respect to its handling of the 2012 green card lottery.
 
Attorney Kenneth White of White and Associates says of the injunction – “This is a necessary and meaningful step, in which we seek to dramatically accelerate the hearing of our arguments in court. It deals with State Department plans to hold a second lottery on July 15.  We need to ensure that the interests of the class of 22,000 are protected going forward and this accelerated hearing will preserve the possibility of justice being done.”
 
Advocates for the 22,000 believe that  the State Department will bury their case as soon as the new lottery takes place..
 
To prevent this, a request for a preliminary injunction will be filed, which petitions the court to weigh two potential outcomes to preserve the plaintiffs’ interests: 1) allow the July 15 drawing to proceed, only with safeguards to protect the plaintiffs’ rank order; or 2) reinstate the original results for all selectees.

The goal of this request is to immediately re-commence the processing of visa and adjustment of status applications for those who have already been recognized and selected in the Lottery.

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