Over the years, the numbers have changed to benefit different nations: Bangladesh, Poland, Sudan.

“Today, four of the top seven lottery nations are designated by the U.S. government as having problems with terrorism,” Vaughan says.

And the problem doesn’t end there, because once we get a random arrival from Exploding Backpack-istan, our chain-migration policies kick in. One lottery “winner” turns into hundreds of largely unvetted immigrants to the U.S. All from a coin flip.