In a decisive and long-overdue move, President Donald Trump has ordered the immediate suspension of the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program, commonly known as the “Green Card Lottery,” after it was revealed the man accused of the Brown University and MIT shootings entered the United States through this very program.
The suspect, 48-year-old Portuguese national Claudio Neves Valente, is believed to have killed two Brown University students and an MIT professor before taking his own life at the end of a multi-day manhunt.
Valente legally entered the United States under the Diversity Visa program in 2017 and was granted permanent residency.
Trump officials confirmed that Valente first entered the U.S. on a student visa in 2000 and later adjusted to residency through the diversity lottery.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced the suspension on Thursday:
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.
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…
— Secretary Kristi Noem (@Sec_Noem) December 19, 2025
More from AP:
The diversity visa program makes up to 50,000 green cards available each year by lottery to people from countries that are little represented in the United States, many of them in Africa. The lottery was created by Congress, and the move is almost certain to invite legal challenges.
Nearly 20 million people applied for the 2025 visa lottery, with more than 131,000 selected when including spouses with the winners. After winning, they must undergo vetting to win admission to the United States. Portuguese citizens won only 38 slots.
Lottery winners are invited to apply for a green card. They are interviewed at consulates and subject to the same requirements and vetting as other green-card applicants.
Trump has long opposed the diversity visa lottery. Noem’s announcement is the latest example of using tragedy to advance immigration policy goals. After an Afghan man was identified as the gunman in a fatal attack on National Guard members in November, Trump’s administration imposed sweeping rules against immigration from Afghanistan and other counties.
While pursuing mass deportation, Trump has sought to limit or eliminate avenues to legal immigration. He has not been deterred if they are enshrined in law, like the diversity visa lottery, or the Constitution, as with a right to citizenship for anyone born on U.S. soil. The Supreme Court recently agreed to hear his challenge to birthright citizenship.
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