Feds argue it’s too late to open 2027 Green Card Lottery

A federal judge in San Diego heard the Trump administration argue that it is now too late to open the 2027 Green Card Lottery registration, after the government previously said in a November 2025 announcement that it would eventually open registration and then never did.

Immigration attorneys at Red Eagle Law say the delay was deliberate: the administration, opposed to the diversity visa program, simply let the clock run out so it could later claim compliance was impossible. Judge Jinsook Ohta pressed the government on how it can act unilaterally on its own timeline while insisting a court cannot order the same action, and noted the 2028 registration period also hasn't been announced.

Ohta said she remains genuinely undecided and will rule by October 14, calling it the order that will bear the weight of the entire case.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.