United States President Donald Trump has announced the suspension of the U.S green card lottery program.
The decision to halt the U.S green card lottery program follows a series of tragic shootings at Brown University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
The directive, issued on Friday, comes after investigators linked the primary suspect—a 48-year-old Portuguese national—to the U.S green card program also known as the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed the pause, stating that the action is necessary to prevent further “loopholes” in the nation’s immigration vetting process.
Noem said the U.S green card lottery program allowed the suspect in the Brown University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) shootings to enter the country.
Noem stated: “The Brown University shooter, Claudio Manuel Neves Valente entered the United States through the diversity lottery immigrant visa program (DV1) in 2017 and was granted a green card. This heinous individual should never have been allowed in our country.
“In 2017, President Trump fought to end this program, following the devastating NYC truck ramming by an ISIS terrorist, who entered under the DV1 program, and murdered eight people.
“At President Trump’s direction, I am immediately directing USCIS to pause the DV1 program to ensure no more Americans are harmed by this disastrous program.”
Pan-Atlantic Kompass reports that the U.S green card lottery program allows for up to 50,000 green cards to be issued annually to immigrants through a lottery system.
Nearly 20 million people applied for the visa lottery in 2025, with more than 131,000 making the cut.
Successful applicants thereafter undergo vetting to enter the US.
Trump has repeatedly spoken of his disdain for the initiative.
Oscar Perez, police chief in Providence, Rhode Island, said the university shooting suspect, Claudio Neves Valente, a Portuguese national, initially entered the US on a student visa in 2000 and later became a permanent resident in 2017.
Perez said Valente was found dead on Thursday evening from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Police said video evidence and tips from the public led investigators to a car rental location where they found the suspect’s name and matched him to their person of interest, following a six-day multi-state manhunt.
He was found dead with a satchel and two firearms. Evidence in a car nearby matched to the scene of the shooting at Brown University in Providence, according to Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha.
Brown University President Christina Paxson said Neves Valente was enrolled at the Ivy League school from the autumn of 2000 to the following spring, and was studying for a PhD in physics.
Noem’s announcement marks the latest instance of a tragedy being cited by Trump to advance his immigration policy goals.
After an Afghan man was identified as the gunman in a fatal attack on National Guard members in November, the Trump administration imposed sweeping rules restricting immigration from Afghanistan and other countries.
Portuguese citizens won only 38 slots in the 2025 DV1 programme.
Lottery winners are often invited to apply for a green card, interviewed at consulates, and subjected to the same requirements and vetting as other green card applicants.
