The Trump administration has suspended the green card diversity lottery after authorities said the suspect in deadly shootings at Brown University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology entered the US through the program, according to US officials.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the suspect, a Portuguese national, received permanent residency in 2017 through the diversity visa lottery. He is accused of killing two Brown students and later murdering an MIT professor before dying by suicide following a multistate manhunt.
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.
— Secretary Kristi Noem (@Sec_Noem) December 19, 2025
In 2017, President Trump…
Noem said the program posed unacceptable risks and announced an immediate pause to prevent further harm.
The diversity visa lottery issues up to 55,000 green cards each year to applicants from countries with low immigration rates to the US.
It’s astonishing the Diversity Visa Lottery still exists. Up to 55,000 Green Cards are handed out annually by random draw, with eligibility as low as a high school diploma or two years of work experience—standards that invite abuse. Congress should end it. pic.twitter.com/Ig01CvDdYa
— U.S. Tech Workers (@USTechWorkers) December 19, 2025
President Donald Trump had previously called for ending the program during his first term, citing national security concerns.
Federal officials said the suspect acted alone and used multiple methods to evade detection. Investigators relied on financial records and surveillance footage to identify him.
The shootings renewed scrutiny of campus security and immigration screening policies.
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TIPP Staff
