Green Card Lottery Suspended After Brown University Shooting

Fri Dec 19 2025 17:40:59 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

In response to a tragic mass shooting at Brown University that resulted in two deaths, the US government has suspended the green card lottery program. This decision follows the identification of the shooter, who had previously entered the country through this immigration pathway.

Following a mass shooting incident at Brown University, the US has halted its green card lottery scheme. The shooter, Claudio Neves Valente, was granted a green card through the diversity visa lottery in 2017. This decision, made by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem under President Trump's directive, aims to prevent further harm from this program, which has faced scrutiny after previous violent incidents involving individuals who entered the US via the lottery.

President Donald Trump has suspended the US green card lottery scheme in the wake of a mass shooting at Brown University last week in which two people were killed.

The suspect, a Portuguese man who was found dead on Thursday, entered the country through the diversity lottery immigrant visa programme (DV1) in 2017 and was granted a green card.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said she has paused the visa scheme under Trump's direction to 'ensure no more Americans are harmed by this disastrous programme'.

US officials stated that the suspect, 48-year-old Claudio Neves Valente, also killed a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor earlier in the week.

The diversity visa lottery program allocates 50,000 visas annually via a random selection process from countries with low immigration rates to the US.

Noem highlighted that Trump had previously aimed to end the scheme after another deadly incident in New York City.

During the Brown University shooting on December 13, two students were killed, and several others were injured, prompting serious concerns about public safety and immigration policies.