Trump Suspends Green Card Lottery After Brown University Shooter
- The Trump administration has paused the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program (green card lottery) after identifying the Brown/MIT shooter as a 2017 lottery winner.
- Suspect Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, a Portuguese national, killed two students and a professor before committing suicide; DHS Secretary Noem cited his entry method as proof the program harms Americans.
In a decisive move that escalates his administration's hardline stance on immigration, President Donald Trump has ordered the immediate suspension of the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program, commonly known as the green card lottery. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced the pause on social media, directly attributing the policy shift to the recent lethal attacks at Brown University and MIT. Noem labeled the long standing program "disastrous," confirming that the suspect responsible for the killing of two students and a professor had entered the United States through this specific visa channel in 2017.
The suspension pivots on the identity of the shooter, Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, a 48 year old Portuguese national and former doctoral student at Brown University. Valente, who was found dead from a self inflicted gunshot wound after a six day manhunt, is believed to have utilized the 2017 diversity lottery to obtain his legal permanent residence status. While the lottery is designed to diversify the US immigrant population by offering up to 50,000 visas annually to underrepresented nations, the administration is leveraging this specific instance of violence to argue that the vetting process is inherently flawed and a threat to national safety.
This policy freeze is consistent with a broader pattern of the Trump administration using individual criminal incidents as catalysts for sweeping immigration reform. Analysts note similarities to a recent clampdown on immigration from developing nations following an attack by an Afghan national on National Guard soldiers. By framing the diversity lottery a program mandated by Congress as a conduit for "heinous individuals," the White House is effectively bypassing legislative debate to implement restrictions that Trump has sought since his first term, including his previous attempts to end the program after the 2017 New York City truck attack.
The logistics of the case that triggered this ban reveal a complex investigation that hinged on citizen vigilance rather than federal databases. Law enforcement cracked the case largely due to an anonymous tipster known as "John," who recognized Valente from a chance encounter and alerted authorities via Reddit and the FBI. While the lottery program requires vetting including interviews and background checks similar to other visa categories the administration contends that the randomness of the selection process makes it a vulnerability. This narrative persists despite the fact that Portuguese citizens, like Valente, are statistically rare winners; only 38 slots were awarded to Portuguese applicants in the most recent cycle.
The suspension faces almost certain legal challenges, as the diversity visa is enshrined in statute, not merely executive policy. However, the immediate impact is a halt to a system that saw nearly 20 million applications for the 2025 cycle. Combined with new proposals to increase H 1B visa fees and expand detention capacities to "mega centers," this move signals a shift toward a merit based, restricted immigration model that prioritizes security theater over established legislative frameworks.