A federal appeals court has temporarily blocked an order requiring the Trump administration to reopen the Diversity Visa lottery, allowing the government to keep the program paused while it pursues an appeal.
A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday granted the government's emergency request to stay a preliminary injunction. This would have required the State Department to open registration for the fiscal year 2027 Diversity Visa Program by Sunday, November 1.
Red Eagle Law is a California-based immigration law firm that represents Diversity Visa selectees. It sued Secretary of State Marco Rubio in August over the State Department's failure to open registration for the Diversity Visa Program for fiscal year 2027.
The court's decision does not resolve the government's underlying appeal. Instead, it puts the lower court's order on hold while that appeal moves forward.
"Red Eagle will be moving forward quickly with other litigation to challenge the State Department's failure to carry out the DV program," Curtis Morrison, owner of Red Eagle, told Newsweek.
Newsweek has contacted the State Department for comment via contact form outside office hours and is awaiting a response.
"We do not endorse the Department’s failure to open the lottery registration period. Nevertheless, Red Eagle has not shown a likelihood of success on the merits because it is not within the zone of interests of the statute and does not have a cause of action," the court wrote.
The Diversity Visa Program makes available up to 55,000 visas annually to people from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. The appeals court said the State Department had failed, without explanation, to open the registration period for fiscal 2027, "effectively canceling" the program.
The Diversity Visa Program, commonly known as the green card lottery, grew out of congressional efforts in the 1980s to create immigration opportunities for people from countries underrepresented in the U.S. immigration system.
Congress established the permanent program through the Immigration Act of 1990, signed by former GOP President George H.W. Bush on November 29, 1990. It was set up to encourage immigration from countries that had historically sent relatively few immigrants to the United States.
The failure to open the Diversity Visa Lottery could have serious consequences for thousands of people worldwide, particularly those from countries with historically low immigration rates to the United States. It effectively denies eligible applicants an opportunity to pursue permanent residency.
The Trump administration has also moved to tighten legal immigration: expanding scrutiny of some green card applicants under the "public charge" test; imposing new or higher fees for asylum, work permits, parole and other immigration benefits; and pursuing restrictions on the H-1B skilled-worker program. It has also sharply limited the broader refugee program while giving priority to Afrikaners and other racial minorities from South Africa.
On October 14, a federal-district court granted Red Eagle a preliminary injunction and ordered the State Department to reopen the program. Under that ruling, the department was required to announce the registration period by October 29, begin accepting registrations by November 1, and notify those selected of their eligibility to apply by December 3.
The government appealed and sought an emergency stay of the injunction. On October 29, Circuit Judges M. Margaret McKeown, N. Randy Smith, and Holly A. Thomas granted that request.
The panel said the government was likely to prevail; Red Eagle’s financial interest in representing Diversity Visa applicants was not sufficiently connected to the program, which "was enacted to encourage immigration, not generate revenue for law firms," the court said.
Judge Smith separately concurred and argued that Red Eagle also lacked constitutional standing.
Morrison said the firm planned further litigation. It was looking for a noncitizen living in the United States on an F-1, H-1B or other nonimmigrant visa who was willing to challenge the Trump administration as a plaintiff and was not fearful of potential retaliation.
The 9th Circuit said its clerk would issue a briefing schedule for the appeal.
