AP/Wide World Photos [5709356]

Charles Bennett

The Diversity Program of 1995 allocated 20,200 visas to Africans. In addition, the Legal Immigration and Family Equity Act, which took effect in December 2000, allowed illegal immigrants to apply for a visa without having to return to their country of origin. Here, immigrants line up at an Immigration Center in Chicago. African immigration has benefited from those policies, and the number of Africans doubled between 1990 and 2000.