immigration Politics
US Suspends Green Card Lottery After Brown University Shooting
Nearly 20 million people applied for the 2025 lottery cycle, with just over 131,000 individuals selected, including family members. Portuguese nationals accounted for only 38 lottery selections, underscoring how rare such visas are.
Donald Trump has ordered the suspension of the US green card lottery scheme, formally known as the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program (DV1), following a mass shooting at Brown University that left two students dead and several others injured. The decision was confirmed by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who said the move was necessary to “ensure no more Americans are harmed.”
Authorities revealed that the suspected gunman, Claudio Neves Valente, a 48-year-old Portuguese national, entered the United States through the diversity visa lottery in 2017, after first arriving years earlier on a student visa. Valente was later found dead from what police believe was a self-inflicted gunshot wound, bringing a multi-state manhunt to an end.
Deadly Attacks Linked Across States
US officials believe Valente was responsible not only for the Brown University shooting on 13 December but also for the killing of MIT professor Nuno F. Gomes Loureiro, who was found dead at his home in Brookline, Massachusetts, earlier in the week. Investigators linked the cases using CCTV footage, rental car records, and public tips.
The Brown University attack occurred inside an engineering building during final exams, killing Ella Cook, 19, and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, 18, and injuring nine others. Authorities have not yet identified a motive for either shooting.
Brown University President Christina Paxson confirmed that Valente had briefly studied at the institution more than two decades ago but had “no current active affiliation” with the university.
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
What Is the Green Card Lottery?
The DV1 program offers up to 50,000 green cards annually through a random lottery system designed to increase immigration from countries with historically low rates of migration to the US. Applicants must still undergo interviews, background checks, and security vetting before being granted permanent residency.
Nearly 20 million people applied for the 2025 lottery cycle, with just over 131,000 individuals selected, including family members. Portuguese nationals accounted for only 38 lottery selections, underscoring how rare such visas are.
Immigration Policy and Political Debate
Secretary Noem said Trump had long opposed the diversity visa system, referencing past attacks involving immigrants who entered the US through the program. She reiterated the administration’s view that the scheme poses security risks, calling it a “disastrous programme.”
Critics, however, argue the suspension politicises a tragedy. Immigration advocates note that lottery winners are subject to the same vetting standards as other green card applicants and say there is no evidence the program itself increases crime.
The suspension follows a broader pattern in which violent incidents have led to swift immigration policy changes under Trump’s leadership.
The Department of Homeland Security has not said how long the suspension will last or whether Congress will be asked to permanently dismantle the program. For now, the move has injected new uncertainty into US immigration policy, reigniting debate over national security, gun violence, and the future of legal migration pathways.
