Trump faces fresh questions over ties to ‘humanitarian’ Putin

The Trump administration has filed an appeal against a federal judge's order to reinstate the 2027 Diversity Visa lottery, also known as the green card lottery. The program, which allocates around 55,000 visas each year to applicants from nations with historically low immigration rates to the United States, was suspended in October due to litigation brought by immigration law firm Red Eagle Law, L.C.

The lawsuit compelled U.S. District Judge Jinsook Ohta of the Southern District of California to issue a preliminary injunction mandating the State Department to resume the lottery, commencing with its registration phase. The government submitted its notice of appeal on October 19, contesting the injunction and associated orders, and filed a separate motion requesting that the judge suspend the injunction pending the outcome of the appeal.

The State Department had previously announced its intention to modify the DV-2027 entry process, but the registration window remained closed after the start of fiscal year 2027 on October 1. Judge Ohta ruled that this situation amounted to an effective termination of the program, as applicants could not participate without prior enrollment in the registration system.

She also noted that Red Eagle Law demonstrated a strong likelihood of success in its litigation, as the State Department had not provided sufficient justification for the initial postponement of the 2027 lottery to turn into an indefinite cessation of operations.