The facts
U.S. District Judge Edward Davila on Sept. 30 found the State Department's compliance with his August order to resume diversity visa processing was "less than substantial," and ordered the Trump administration to keep processing cases for 10 days past the Sept. 30 deadline. Officials had waited 10 days to tell embassies and consulates to resume processing and then moved at an "unprecedented glacial pace."
Through Sept. 21, the department was adjudicating about 83 diversity visas a day worldwide, roughly a third of the 230 a day it averaged during September 2025. The State Department did not dispute that no interviews had been conducted or visas issued during the 10 days after the ruling, saying it had needed time to develop instructions for consular posts.
The department also rolled out a "global training initiative" on public charge rules that generally required consular posts to complete new training before processing immigrant visas. Attorneys for the selectees called it "a new pause wearing public charge clothing" and accused officials of "manufacturing delay rather than curing it." Davila wrote that the department's "lack of diligence" was "of exceptional significance" and that the delays had "materially frustrated" his order.
The Diversity Visa Program offers up to roughly 55,000 immigrant visas each year. More than 20 million people entered the lottery for 2026, and about 129,500 applicants and family members were selected. The administration halted diversity visa issuances in December while reviewing screening procedures and later paused immigrant visa processing for nationals of 75 countries.
During a Sept. 29 hearing, attorneys asked Davila to preserve roughly 40,000 visas that would otherwise go unused. He declined the broader request as "untethered and overbroad." He granted the 10-day extension instead, writing that a court that finds "an egregious lack of compliance" must not become powerless just because the government ran out the clock. "Such a result would be 'absurd,'" he wrote. The parties are due back in court Oct. 15.
Our take
The Trump administration’s State Department, faced with a direct court order to process visas, responded with the bureaucratic equivalent of taking a 10-day shit, then calling a plumber to admire the work. These cunts waited the entire grace period just to tell embassies to start, then cranked out a whopping 83 visas a day - a pace so slow it makes a fucking glacier look like Usain Bolt. Their excuse? They needed to write the instructions. Instructions for what? ‘Open envelope, stamp visa.’ Fuck off.
Then, in a stroke of pure, unadulterated asshole genius, they rolled out a ‘global training initiative.’ This wasn’t compliance; it was a middle finger dressed up as a PowerPoint. Lawyers for the applicants nailed it: ‘a new pause wearing public charge clothing.’ The department didn’t just drag its feet; it surgically attached cinderblocks to them, then demanded a training seminar on how to walk with cinderblocks.
Judge Davila saw this shit for what it was: ‘an egregious lack of compliance’ and ‘manufacturing delay.’ He gave them 10 extra days, not because he’s a naive prick, but because letting the government win by running out the fucking clock would be ‘absurd.’ So the prize for world-class obstruction is a gentle extension, while 40,000 people’s lottery wins rot. The system is so broken it rewards this flagrant, malicious dickery.
Every step here was a calculated ‘fuck you.’ Zero interviews. Zero visas. Then a solemn report about how hard it is to do the one job they have. These bureaucratic terrorists in suits figured if they moved slow enough, the court would just get tired and go home. They almost did. That’s not governance; it’s a hostage situation performed by paper-shuffling cowards. Absolute fucking cunts.
