Trump suspends the green card lottery program that allows suspects in the shootings at Brown University and MIT to enter the United States

US President Donald Trump on Thursday suspended the green card lottery program that allowed the suspect in the shootings at Brown University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to come to the United States.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a post on the social media platform X that, at Trump’s direction, she is ordering USCIS to pause the program.

He watches: The suspect in the shooting at Brown University and the killing of an MIT professor has been found dead, officials said

“This heinous person should not have been allowed to enter our country,” she said of the suspect, Portuguese citizen Claudio Neves Valiente.

Nieves Valiente (48 years old) is suspected in the shooting incident at Brown University, which resulted in the death of two students, the wounding of nine others, and the death of a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was found dead Thursday evening from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, officials said.

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Nieves Valiente had studied at Brown University on a student visa starting in 2000, according to an affidavit from a Providence police detective. In 2017, he obtained a diversity immigrant visa, and months later obtained lawful permanent resident status, according to the affidavit. It was not immediately clear where he was between taking a leave of absence from school in 2001 and obtaining his visa in 2017.

The Diversity Visa Program makes up to 50,000 green cards available each year through a lottery to people from countries underrepresented in the United States, many of which are in Africa. The lottery was created by Congress, and the move would almost certainly result in legal challenges.

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Nearly 20 million people have applied for the 2025 visa lottery, and more than 131,000 people have been selected when pairs are listed as winners. After winning, they must undergo vetting to win admission to the United States. The Portuguese nationals won only 38 places.

Lottery winners are invited to apply for a green card. They are interviewed at consulates and are subject to the same requirements and scrutiny as other green card applicants.

Trump has long opposed the diversity visa lottery. Noem’s announcement is the latest example of a tragedy being used to advance immigration policy goals. After an Afghan man was identified as the gunman in a deadly attack on National Guard members in November, the Trump administration imposed sweeping rules against immigration from Afghanistan and other provinces.

Read more: More police were sent to Providence schools to calm fears as shootings continue at Brown University

While seeking mass deportation, Trump has sought to limit or eliminate avenues for legal immigration. He would not be deterred if these principles were enshrined in law, such as the Diversity Visa Lottery, or the Constitution, as is the right of citizenship for anyone born on US soil. The Supreme Court recently agreed to hear his challenge to birthright citizenship.