The United States government has announced an immediate suspension of the Green Card lottery program following the deadly shooting at Brown University, reflecting heightened concerns over immigration policy and national security. President Donald Trump directed the suspension of the Diversity Immigrant Visa (DV1) program, commonly known as the green card lottery, after it emerged that the suspect in the Brown University shooting and the fatal attack on a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor had obtained permanent residency through the lottery system.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) had been ordered to pause the program immediately, stating that the suspect “should never have been allowed in our country.” Authorities have identified the shooter as Claudio Neves Valente, a 48-year-old Portuguese national. Investigators allege he carried out the Brown University attack, which left two students dead and several others wounded, and later killed an MIT professor. Valente was later found dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Valente initially entered the U.S. on a student visa and later obtained permanent residency in 2017 through the Diversity Visa program, a point central to the government’s decision to halt the lottery. The Diversity Visa Lottery traditionally awards up to 50,000 green cards annually to applicants from countries with historically low levels of U.S. immigration. Applicants are selected randomly and undergo standard visa vetting before admission.
The suspension represents a significant shift in U.S. immigration policy and is likely to face legal challenges from civil liberties and immigrant advocacy groups, which argue that the DV program has long helped diversify the nation’s immigrant population. Trump’s directive follows broader efforts by the administration to tighten immigration controls. Officials defending the pause frame it as a necessary public safety measure, while critics argue that using a violent incident to dismantle a long-standing visa program could have wide-ranging consequences for prospective immigrants and diplomatic relations with affected countries.
With the lottery suspended until further notice, the Department of Homeland Security and USCIS have not provided a timeline for resumption nor detailed how current applications will be handled. Legal experts expect immediate court challenges and Congressional debate over the future of the Diversity Visa program.
English