The suspect in the Brown University shooting was connected to the program
US President Donald Trump has suspended the green card lottery program following reports that the suspect in shootings at Brown University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology had entered the country through this system.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced late on Thursday that, under Trump’s directive, US Citizenship and Immigration Services would immediately cease operations of the Diversity Immigrant Visa (DV1) program, which grants lottery winners the status of permanent US residents.
Noem’s statement came after a five-day search for 48-year-old Portuguese national Claudio Manuel Neves-Valente. Authorities suspect Valente of killing two students and injuring nine others in a shooting at Brown University on Saturday, and then fatally shooting MIT professor Nuno Loureiro two days later in Brookline, Massachusetts. Officials reported that the suspect died by suicide, with his body discovered in New Hampshire with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
“This heinous individual should never have been allowed in our country,” Noem stated on X, referring to Valente.
According to a court affidavit cited by authorities, Valente first arrived in the US on a student visa in 2000 and subsequently obtained a green card through the Diversity Visa Lottery in 2017.
The diversity visa program allocates up to 50,000 immigrant visas annually through a lottery for individuals from countries with low rates of immigration to the US. Winners and their spouses undergo a vetting process and interviews before being admitted.
Noem indicated that the suspension is intended to “ensure no more Americans are harmed by this disastrous program,” and noted that Trump had long expressed opposition to the lottery.
This action follows broader immigration restrictions implemented by the Trump administration in recent weeks, including more stringent reviews of other legal immigration channels, particularly after a separate shooting incident in Washington, D.C., involved a suspect who had entered the US via a different immigration program.
Trump initiated a crackdown on illegal immigration upon his return to the White House in January. He has intensified immigration raids and pledged to conduct the largest deportation operation in US history, prioritizing the removal of dangerous criminals.